By Cody has been working on a new biscuit for the cafe’s spring menu. He texted me the recipe Wednesday with a question about the buttermilk-to-flour ratio. The biscuit is a scallion-and-cheddar cathead — the large, irregular “cathead”-style biscuit (so called because each biscuit is approximately the size and shape of a cat’s head) with sharp cheddar and chopped scallion folded into the dough.
The cathead style is the Southern-Appalachian biscuit form — not the small uniform cut biscuit of the rolled-and-cut method but the larger, dropped-and-shaped biscuit that gets a casual rough exterior and a tender pull-apart interior. The dough is wetter than a standard rolled biscuit dough. The shaping is done by hand without rolling. The biscuits go onto the sheet pan in loose mounds that touch each other (so the sides stay soft) and bake at high heat for a short time.
Cody’s question was about the buttermilk. He had tried 1.5 cups for 3 cups of flour and gotten a dough that was too wet to shape. I suggested 1.25 cups as the starting point with the option to add another tablespoon at a time if needed. The cheese needs to be grated coarse rather than fine (so it does not melt into the dough and disappear) and folded in at the end. The scallion goes in raw, sliced thin, with both green and white parts.
Sunday I made the biscuit at the apartment as a test for the cafe rollout. The result is the kind of biscuit that wants to go on a brunch plate next to two scrambled eggs and a slice of country ham. Cody is planning to add it to the cafe menu the first Saturday of March. The biscuit will be his second original menu item — the first was the chorizo breakfast hash he added in October.
Scallion and Cheddar Cathead Biscuits
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 22 minutes | Total Time: 32 minutes | Servings: 8 biscuits
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
- 1 1/4 cups cold buttermilk, plus 1 tablespoon for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat your oven to 450°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it lightly.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined.
- Cut in the butter. Add the cold butter cubes to the flour mixture. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbles with some pea-sized pieces remaining. Do not overwork — cold, uneven butter is what makes biscuits tender.
- Add the cheese and scallions. Toss the shredded cheddar and sliced scallions into the flour-butter mixture and stir to distribute evenly.
- Add the buttermilk. Pour in the cold buttermilk and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula just until the dough comes together. It will be shaggy and sticky — that’s right. Stop mixing the moment no dry flour remains.
- Drop the biscuits. Using a large spoon or a 1/2-cup scoop, drop 8 mounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. These are cathead biscuits — they’re meant to be big and rustic. Brush the tops lightly with the reserved buttermilk.
- Bake. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the tops are deep golden brown and the biscuits feel set when gently pressed. Rotate the pan once halfway through for even browning.
- Serve warm. Let rest for 3 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a towel-lined basket. Best eaten the same day, split open next to a bowl of black-eyed peas.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 318 | Protein: 10g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 492mg