Big Daddy Biscuits
These biscuits rise high and flaky, like down-home puff pastry.
INGREDIENTS | YIELDS 15–20 BISCUITS
- 3 cups cake flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
- 1 egg
- 1 cup cold milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
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Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter until it is broken down into pea-sized pieces.
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Whisk together egg and milk. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour in wet ingredients. Using a fork, blend until the dough just comes together.
Turn onto a floured surface and fold dough over onto itself 6–8 times. (Be careful not to knead or overwork.) Pat into 1″ thickness.
Cut into circles using a floured round cutter. Place biscuits 2″ apart on prepared pan and set aside to rest 10–15 minutes. Preheat oven to 425°F.
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Brush cream generously onto biscuits, then bake 15–20 minutes, until golden brown. Turn pan halfway through baking to promote even browning.
Flakiness
The size of the butter bits is directly related to the flakiness of the biscuit. In the heat of the oven, the water inside the butter is turned into steam. The steam rises, and pushes up the dough around it. This creates pockets of air in the finished product. Those pockets are what we call flakiness. The bigger the butter bits, the flakier the biscuit.
