Angel Biscuits by Trisha Yearwood

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.