November 6, 2013

Salt and Pepper Biscuits

Salt and Pepper Biscuits
Salt and Pepper Biscuits



I did not grow up on biscuits. The only biscuits my mother ever made came from a can. She was a great cook and made many delicious recipes, but she didn't really bake. My husband brings up almost every Christmas about the year she took my great brownie batter and added a bag of raspberry chips to it. They were pretty inedible. Needless to say I had no idea how to make biscuits when I moved 2500 miles away from home to the State of West Virginia. Biscuits are a big deal in this state. I quickly learned that knowing not only how to make a biscuit, but being able to whip up a batch on the fly was an essential part of being a West Virginian. Since my husband and I met and got married in graduate school I quickly realized I was in trouble. My first few biscuit attempts were disasters. I kneaded the dough, I rolled out the biscuits with a rolling pin and they resembled hockey pucks. After a few years my mother in law took pity on me and kindly asked me if I could help her with her breakfast biscuits. In reality she very nicely pointed out everything that I was doing wrong without it feeling like a baking lesson. It worked, the next time I made biscuits they were perfect, they rose beautifully, they had a great texture and my husband would eat them (which is saying a lot I promise). Now she still makes the best biscuits I have had in this state and every time my husband goes home she makes him a big batch. They are the only biscuits that he never adds any jam or butter to, they are perfect as is. So I concede to coming in second best, a place which I think is pretty great considering the competition. I make a number of biscuit recipes depending on if they are for breakfast or as a side. Today I tried a new recipe for Salt and Pepper Biscuits from the November 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.
Salt and Pepper Biscuits Sliced
Salt and Pepper Biscuits Sliced 

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 8 biscuits. I made few very changes to the original recipe. The main changes were to the execution of the recipe steps. The recipe states to use a food processor to cut in the butter. While I love food magazines, this is a step I have to debate. I have always cut my butter in by hand with my fingers and so does my mother-in-law. It keeps the butter a great texture and the flavor is always perfect. I cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour mixture with my fingers. It should resemble a lumpy batter when done. You want these butter lumps in order to have flaky, buttery biscuits. The other big change I made was to roll out my biscuits by hand. Do not roll out biscuits with a rolling pin, it makes for flat biscuits. I pat out my biscuits with my hands and then use a biscuit cutter. Avoid too much contact with the dough in general, the less you touch it the better the biscuits.

These biscuits are definitely dinner biscuits. I served them alongside a veggie smoked salmon chowder recipe and they worked well together. As a breakfast biscuit they would not work as well, so remember that these should be a lunch or dinner biscuit/bread. With a little bit of butter my whole family liked this biscuit recipe. My husband still prefers breakfast biscuits, but he may be the pickiest biscuit eater I have ever met so his opinion is a little biased. Overall, these were easy to prepare and were a nice side with soup.

For the recipe go to Salt and Pepper Biscuits. 

16 comments:

  1. Gorgeous biscuits, Ann. They look melt-in-mouth delicious!

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    1. Thanks :) They turned out really fluffy and the texture was great!

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  2. very nice..
    http://fashionwithfitness.blogspot.com

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  3. Honestly, I have never made biscuits from scratch, either. My family barely appreciate he ones from the can, so I don;t bother wasting my time making stuff they won't eat.

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    1. They are pretty easy once you get the hang of it. My husband and boys are pretty biscuit picky though :) I wouldn't make them if my kids didn't eat them either!

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  4. I'm so bad at biscuits...I usually used the canned type or Bisquick when I'm feeling fancy. Ha. These sound excellent and I will keep them in mind.

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    1. I have used the frozen ones many time, so don't feel bad :) These are actually really easy, which is nice!

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  5. I totally suck at making biscuits. I'm really really bad. I usually just use them from the can since nothing else works for me. That was nice of your MIL to give you that quick lesson. Maybe one day the student will surpass the teacher. :)

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    1. I used to be really bad also :) I use the frozen ones when I don't have time to make them from scratch.

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  6. Oh man, my tummy was already grumbling, now I'm lost!! These look DELICIOUS!! I haven't had a great homemade biscuit since my gram passed.

    Nice that your MIL was so not-in-your-face w/the lesson. :)

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    1. Thanks for the sweet comments :) My MIL was very sweet when she helped me, she always is!

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  7. Wow! What can I say? ... I must eat them!
    Amazing job! Looks sooo yummy!


    Regards,
    Katherine Unique


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  8. Hi Ann, I stumbled across your blog when trying to research the origin of Salt & Pepper Biscuits. I am a German food blogger (well, just started six months ago) and just now would like to take part in a blog event on American food. In the November issue of "Bon Appétit!" I just fell for the S&P Biscuits picture and recipe, I tried to find out more about them - and that's how I got here. And thought it was quite funny you tried the same recipe… :) Anyway: I love your blog and will add it to my feed reader straight away! Love from Germany, Barbara.

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    1. It was a great recipe, my family loved it :) Thanks for stopping by, I am going over to check out your page now! I love supporting other food bloggers, especially since it can be hard when you first start. Come back again soon!

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