I grew up having biscuits regularly. There was no bakery where I grew up, so picking up a baguette for dinner was out of the question. Instead we’d sometimes have biscuits. While biscuits are primarily a breakfast food for most parts of American, in Appalachia where I was raised we have them at all times of day because they’re cheap, filling and easy to prepare. I probably ate them at least twice a week or more every week of my life until I went to university. And I’ll happily admit that back then I was completely sick of them…
Funny how things change – I actually love a good biscuit now that I’m so far away from home and sometimes I love to whip up a batch at a moment’s notice. That’s when I use this recipe because it only requires things I always have on hand – no fancy ingredients, no buttermilk… Just what’s already available. And they taste amazing!
These biscuits are delicious anytime, but they are best fresh from the oven when they’re still hot enough to melt the butter that must be slathered all over them. A biscuit loves butter with jam or marmalade, but it’s also delicious for a breakfast sandwich like a bacon, egg & cheese, sausage, egg & cheese, fried chicken or a humble ham & cheese. Alternatively, biscuits make a great bread option for the table for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I absolutely love a biscuit with soup for dinner in the winter – yum!
This is my everyday biscuit recipe. It’s pretty easy and I’d encourage you not to get too caught up in perfection. You will have at least one wonky biscuit and that’s absolutely fine. It tastes the same and for this rustic recipe, there is no reason to waste in the name of vanity. Let’s get started…
Ingredients
- 270g plain flour (all purpose)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes (or 1/2 teaspoon table salt)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 85g butter, fridge cold & cut into small cubes
- 180ml whole milk plus a little more for brushing
Method
- Mix together the flour, sea salt flakes and the baking powder with a wire whisk in a large mixing bowl.
- Use a pastry cutter if you have one to cut the butter into the dry ingredients mixture. If you don’t have one, you can rub the butter into the flour using your fingers. Incorporate the butter cubes into the mixture until it resembles a sandy consistency.
- Using a fork, start incorporating the milk. Pour it in a little at a time and fork the mixture until its incorporated before pouring in more milk. Do this until all the milk is incorporated and you have a dough.
- Lightly flour your worktop or a large cutting board and turn out your dough onto it. Sprinkle some flour onto the top of the dough as well to help make it easier to work with.
- Start working your dough with your hands to bring it together, kneading a bit and adding more flour as required until you can roll it out.
- Roll out the dough until it’s about 1.5cm to 2cm thick. Use a round biscuit cutter or a drinking glass to cut out your biscuits and place them into a nonstick baking pan. Keep doing this until you’ve used all your dough
- Use a pastry brush if you have one to brush a little milk onto the tops of the biscuits. This will help them to turn golden as they bake. If you don’t have a brush on hand, just use your fingers to gently wipe a little milk on top of each biscuit.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 14 minutes or until the biscuits are golden.
