flaky, fluffy southern buttermilk biscuits, step by step

OK, so here’s my first tip to the flakiest, fluffiest biscuits you ever did see/make/shovel into your face — grate the butter. And make sure it’s cold, as in, preferably frozen. Just grate the frozen stick with a box grater and place the grated butter in a bowl in the freezer while you prep the remaining ingredients. If you don’t have a grater, that’s OK — you can cut the frozen butter into really small cubes, too. The key is to keep that butter cold all the way to the oven so there will be tiny pockets and ribbons of butter speckled throughout each biscuit (are you drooling already? Because I am).

Use a pastry blender or two knives to cut in/blend the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter pieces are about the size of very small peas. Don’t use your hands to blend in the butter — the heat from your hands will warm up the butter and that no es bueno.

And now here’s the trick to extra-flaky biscuits, which I learned on Lifehacker, of all places: Stack the dough. Cut the rough ball of dough in half, then stack one piece of dough on top of the other. Gently press and smoosh the pieces back together into a rough ball, then cut the dough in half again, stack again, smoosh again. Repeat that process a total of three or four times to create some magical air pockets in the dough which, in turn, create all the flaky layers of heavenly, buttery, carb-loaded goodness.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen or refrigerated, plus more for greasing baking sheet
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (measured out with the scoop and sweep method)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup cold buttermilk

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees F. Generously grease bottom of a baking sheet with butter.
2. Use a box grater to grate cold butter into a small bowl -- or, cut butter with a knife into very small cubes. Place bowl in freezer.
3. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda until well combined. Add grated butter and, using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter it's the size of small peas. Pour in cold buttermilk and stir mixture with a wooden spoon just until a dough forms (do not overmix).
4. ...................................

for full instruction please see : www.girlversusdough.com

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