All-Purpose Biscuits

Yields: 6 to 8 servings Total Time: 1 hour Cook Time: 10 to 15 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

• 2 cups All-Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 tablespoons Baking Powder
• 1 scant tablespoon Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Salt

Wet Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons cold, Unsalted Butter (preferably European style)
• ¾~1 cup Whole Milk

Directions

1. Sift Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar and Salt into a large mixing bowl. Transfer to a food processor. Cut Butter into pats and add to flour mix, then pulse 5 or 6 times until the mixture resembles rough crumbs. (Alternatively, cut butter into flour in the mixing bowl using a fork or a pastry cutter.) Return dough to bowl, add Milk and stir with a fork until it forms a rough ball.
2. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and pat it down into a rough rectangle, about an inch thick. Fold it over and gently pat it down again. Repeat. Cover the dough loosely with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425.
3. Gently pat out the dough some more, so that the rectangle is roughly 10 inches by 6 inches. Cut dough into biscuits using a floured glass or biscuit cutter. Do not twist cutter when cutting; this crimps the edges of the biscuit and impedes its rise.
4. Place biscuits on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

Note: When making gravy, use oil and bacon grease as the fat.

From NY Times with modifications.