Cheddar-Cornmeal Biscuits
For years, biscuits intimidated me. I’d heard so many tales of secret ancestral Southern recipes and had been warned that I needed a magic touch to create light, flaky biscuits that I figured my Yankee hands would just make a mess of it. But eventually, my hankering surpassed my apprehension, and I came up with my own handsome looking, boldly flavored biscuits that anyone can master. The resulting recipe includes sharp Cheddar cheese (or any hard grating cheese), minced scallions, a good dose of black pepper, and a little cornmeal. A key ingredient for keeping the biscuits light is buttermilk, which reacts with the leavening to help the dough rise. It also adds flavor. The “secret” to keeping the biscuits tender is using cold butter and handling the dough quickly and gently. These are not float-off-your-plate biscuits—I’ll leave those to the deft Southerners. Instead, I think of these as my New England biscuits, buttery and flavorful with a pleasing little crunch from the cornmeal. They easily hold their own on any dinner table and would be wonderful as part of a weekend breakfast.
Make ahead note:You can shape the biscuits (Step 4) up to 2 hours ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake.Transfer directly from the refrigerator the oven, adding a couple of minutes to the baking time. The biscuits taste best within 12 hours of baking. You can warm room temperature biscuits in a low oven before serving, if you like.
Makes 1 dozen 2 1/2- to 3-inch biscuits
1 1/2 cups (6 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1/2 cup (3 ounces) cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, coarsely grated (3/4 cup lightly packed)
1/3 cup finely chopped scallions (about 3 scallions), white and pale green parts
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled
3/4 cup cold buttermilk, plus more for brushing
1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees (400 degrees convection) with a rack set near the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, if desired. (You can also use an ungreased baking sheet; it’s just a little more to clean up.)
2. Combine the dry ingredients and butter. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, baking soda, and pepper. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the cheddar with the scallions. Sprinkle a small handful of the flour mixture over the cheese-scallion mixture, and toss to coat; this helps prevent the cheese from clumping in the dough. Set aside
Add the butter cubes to the dry ingredients. Using two table knives, a pastry blender or your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture looks pebbly, and there are no pieces larger than a pea. (If you want to read more about cutting in butter, go to page XX.) Add the cheese-scallion mixture, and toss to combine.
3. Add the wet ingredients. Add the buttermilk, and quickly stir a few times with a rubber spatula to roughly combine into a shaggy dough. Don't overmix; it will come together later.
4. Shape the biscuits. Flour your work surface, and turn the dough out onto it. With well-floured hands, gather the dough together, and gently fold it over onto itself. Repeat this gentle kneading motion a few times until the dough holds together in a loose, but cohesive shape; it will be sticky, so keep the work surface and your hands floured. Pat the dough into a rectangle, and use your hands to flatten it to just over 1/2-inch thick (the dimension will be about 9- by 5-inches).
Brush the top of the dough lightly with buttermilk, and sprinkle the remaining cheese over it. With a large chef’s knife, cut the dough in a grid pattern to make 12 evenly sized biscuits. Transfer to the baking sheet.
5. Bakeuntil the biscuits are browned and firm to the touch, about 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Using a standing mixer to make biscuits: I like whipping up a batch of biscuits by hand in a mixing bowl because I can get a good feel for how the dough is coming together (making it less likely that I’ll overwork it), but you can certainly use a mixer if you’d rather. Follow the procedure above, using the paddle blade and keeping the speed set on low. Expect it to take about 2 minutes to combine the dry ingredients and the butter (Step 2). For Step 3, with the mixer running (still on low), quickly add the buttermilk. Mix only until loosely combined, about 20 seconds; don’t worry if there are some dry bits at the bottom of the bowl. Turn out to knead and shape the biscuits as described in Step 4.
Substitution for buttermilk: If you’ve no buttermilk on hand, you can substitute milk, yogurt or sour cream. Here’s how: For milk, measure out 3/4 cup regular milk (whole or low-fat), add 2 teaspoons white vinegar or lemon juice, and let sit for 10 minutes to curdle slightly. Stir and use in place of buttermilk. For yogurt or sour cream, thin each with enough water to reach the consistency of heavy cream. (These substitution guidelines are based on recommendations by King Arthur Flour.)