Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Name: Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
Yield: Makes 12 biscuits
Cuisine: Southern, American
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups, unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces), plus additional flour for work surface; 1 tablespoon, baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon, baking soda; 1 teaspoon, table salt; 2 tablespoons, vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch chunks; 8 tablespoons, unsalted butter (1 stick), cold, lightly floured and cut into 1/8-inch slices (see illustration in "Making the Layered Look Work for You"); 2 tablespoons, unsalted butter, melted; 1 1/4 cups, low-fat buttermilk, cold

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated January/February 2006

Desserts or Baked Goods

Southern

American

Quick Breads

How do you get tender, flaky biscuits with truly distinctive layers? It's a pressing issue.

SERVESMakes 12 biscuits

TIME1½ hours

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

When testing buttermilk biscuit recipes, we found that flaky butter equals flaky biscuits. To get "flaky" butter, we abandoned the food processor and worked thin slices into the flour by hand. Next, we rolled and folded the dough ...

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