A few weekends ago I was watching Trisha Yearwood's show on Food Network and she replicated some angel biscuits from someone's restaurant. They looked really light and fluffy so I printed off the recipe and got the rest of the ingredients (they need dry yeast) to try them. Today I decided it was a good day for stew since I haven't made it, I think, since last winter and I didn't want to think of cooking later on today, so I threw together my crockpot stew-which I've posted previously-and got that started around noon. Then I thought of the biscuits later this afternoon and around 3:00 I got those started. They really are not hard..take a little time working in the butter mainly, and I thought the recipe looked like you could make a ton, but it doesn't..they are just bigguns! You have to allow for some time though because they have to rise for 1 hour. Here is the recipe.
5 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup warm 90-110 degrees water.
1/2 ounce (2 pkgs) active dry yeast
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, cold, cut into small squares
2 cups buttermilk
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F
in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and 3 Tablespoons of the sugar.
In a small bowl, combine the warm water with the yeast and the remaining 2 Tablespoons sugar; stir until the yeast is dissolved. Let stand until bubbles appear, 2-3 minutes.
Using your hands (I also used a pastry blender) mix the 1 cup cold butter into the flour, breaking the butter into small pebbles, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk and the yeast mixture. Gently fold the flour into the wet ingredients. Keep mixing until a ball starts to form, then gently knead (on a lightly floured surface) 12-15 times, to create a smooth dough. Cover with a cloth or plastic wrap (back in the bowl) and let rise in a warm place for approximately 1 hour.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and press out to 1-1/2 inches thick (I lightly used my rolling pin). Fold the dough in half, press again to 1-1/2 inches and fold again and press to desired thickness. cut the dough using a 2-3 inch round biscuit cutter (I used a drinking glass). Brush the bottom of a cast-iron skillet (I don't have one, so used a big stoneware dish I had) with butter. Place the biscuits in the skillet; brush the tops with more melted butter.
Bake until golden brown, 18-22 minutes, depending on size. brush again with melted butter and serve immediately.
Makes 8-12 biscuits. I made 8 because that's all my pan would fit. Photo is one biscuit split in half!
NOTE: When I make these again, I am going to use a bigger pan and make them a thinner, like the 1 inch and just make more. these were delicious, but just too "fat" for me..it's just a personal preference though.
