Sweet Buttermilk Biscuits -- The Kind of Thing You Learn by Feel

The week after Easter is leftover week, which is one of my favorite weeks in the cooking year because the ham has created an infrastructure of meals that runs itself for three days. Monday: ham sandwiches. Tuesday: split pea soup from the bone, which I started at nine in the morning and which was done by noon and which Noah refused again, same position as last year, same crackers and cheese compromise, same complete satisfaction on his part. Wednesday: a ham and potato frittata, eight eggs, diced leftover ham, leftover roasted potatoes from Easter, a handful of the cheddar that was also leftover, into the oven at 375 for twenty minutes. It was one of the best things I made all week.

The American Fork workshop waitlist now has sixty-three women on it. Sixty-three. The Orem center director called Tuesday to talk about summer programming, wanting to know if I would continue through July. I said yes. She said: I want to add a second monthly slot. I said I could do that. When I told Brandon he said: at some point you are going to need a name for what you do. I said: I have a name. It is Freezer Meal Mom. He said: where did that come from? I said: from you. He said: I know. I was asking if you had accepted it. I said: yes. He said: good. He seemed more pleased than I expected.

Olivia started her own cooking project this week: she decided she wants to learn to make her grandmother's rolls, from scratch, the pull-tuck-set method. I sat with her at the kitchen table on Saturday and taught her the way my mother taught me: standing beside her, demonstrating with my hands, describing the feel of the dough at each stage rather than the measurements because the measurements are a guide but the feel is the knowledge. Her first batch was slightly dense. I told her mine was dense the first time too. She said: was Grandma's dense the first time? I said: I have never once seen Grandma produce a dense roll. She said: I aspire to that. I said: give it thirty years.

Watching Olivia work that dough on Saturday, standing where I once stood learning the same thing from my own mother, I kept thinking about how bread is bread is bread — whether it’s Grandma’s pull-tuck-set rolls or a batch of buttermilk biscuits. The knowledge lives in your hands. These sweet buttermilk biscuits are the recipe I use when I want something warm on the table fast, but they’re also the recipe I’d hand to anyone just starting out, because they teach you the same thing rolls do: what the dough should feel like when it’s right.

Sweet Buttermilk Biscuits

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 27 minutes | Servings: 12 biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons melted butter, for brushing

Instructions

1. Preheat. Heat your oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Cut in the butter. Add the cold cubed butter and work it into the flour using a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces remaining. This is where the feel matters — you want it shaggy, not smooth.
4. Add the wet ingredients. Whisk the buttermilk and egg together in a small bowl, then pour into the flour mixture. Stir with a fork just until the dough comes together. Do not overmix.
5. Shape the biscuits. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it to about 3/4-inch thickness. Fold the dough in half, then pat it down again. Repeat this fold one more time — this creates the flaky layers. Cut with a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, pressing straight down without twisting.
6. Bake. Place biscuits on the prepared baking sheet with sides just touching. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
7. Brush and serve. Remove from the oven and immediately brush the tops with melted butter. Serve warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 155 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 19g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 290mg