Thursday, March 15, 2018

A country breakfast staring biscuits with Deep Run Roots



Country buttermilk biscuits made with 3 ingredients thanks to chef Vivian Howard, the Chef's life PBS series and her new cookbook, "Deep Run Roots" of which my sweet husband gave me for Christmas.  I have always made the Southern Living recipe of "Mile High" biscuits with egg, sugar, shortening, milk and they are truly a delicious delicacy, these are really good in a whole different way.   The eggs were cooked on the cast-iron skillet in olive oil using a very simple technique of spooning the oil gently over the yokes while they cook for a more evenly set egg.  They are also not as greasy as you may think..just lovely, actually.  The bacon we bake in the oven.  Ever since my husband learned that you can bake bacon in the oven and get the same crispy result he has been in  charge of the bacon prep.  Now for the biscuits:

Chef Vivian Howard's
 ENC-style Buttermilk Biscuits  (Eastern North Carolina)
(makes 10 biscuits)

1/2 c lard plus more for greasing the pan
2 1/2 /c all purpose flour, (I use Martha White)
4 tsp baking powder
2/3 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk

"Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Using your hands as both scoop and spatula, grease a baking sheet liberally with lard.

Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl and make a deep and wide well in center.  Add 1/2 cup lard followed by the buttermilk, taking care to keep both contained in the well for now.  If you're right-handed, take your right hand down into the lard-buttermilk goop and start bringing that together with your fingers.  You want to make that as much of a homogenous mixture as you can without bringing too much flour into the fold just yet.  Once you get it together, start moving the wet mixture back and forth, to and fro into the flour.  Turn it over and do the same.  Turn it over again and introduce more flour with each movement.  Once I get it going, I like to do a little motion that feels like a one-handed knead, using my thumb as if it were the other hand.  It's a real gentle, but it pushes new flour in with each movement.  Continue introducing flour until the dough is not sticky but still very soft and tender.  You will have about 1/2 cup of flour left in the bowl.  ......

Pull off a large golfball-size piece of dough and roll it up with your hand, pinching the bottom together.  Put in corner of greased baking sheet and press down to 1/2 inch thick.  Follow with next biscuit.  All sides of the biscuit should be touching other biscuits.  It's okay if you don't fill up the entire tray; it's more important that they are crowded.

Slide the tray onto the rack in the lower third of the oven and bake for 18 minutes.  Rotate the tray to the top rack and bake an additional 7 minutes.  The biscuits should be golden brown and crisp on the bottom, a little less brown on top.  Let them cool if you can for 2 minutes before eating.

Enjoy!





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