Grumpy Cutter's Flaky Square Buttermilk Biscuits

If you read the book, you will love the description of gruff Deputy U.S. Marshall Arliss Cutter teaching his young nephews how to make his Grandpa Cutter's biscuits. I am quoting the entire recipe from Marc Cameron's Alaska novel, Stone Cross. 

3 cups of all-purpose flour

2 tbl. sugar

1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 sticks of butter, frozen (16 tbl.)

1 1/2 cups of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with a light spray of oil or cover with parchment.

In a bowl, stir together all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda.

Grate the two sticks of butter and add to the dry ingredient mixture.

Gently combine until the butter particles are coated. 

Next add the buttermilk and briefly fold it in.

Transfer this dough to a floured spot for rolling and folding.

Shape the dough into a square then roll it out into a larger rectangle. Fold by hand into thirds using a bench scraper. Press the dough to seal it. Use the bench scraper to help shape the dough into flat edges. Turn it 90 degrees and repeat the process of rolling it out into a bigger rectangle and shaping it again. Repeat this process for a total of five times. The dough will become smoother as you go. 

After the last fold, and if time allows, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. Otherwise, cut the remaining dough into [12] squares and place one inch apart on the baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter. 

Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 to 24 minutes. Let cool on a rack before serving--if you can wait that long. 

Tips to remember:

• A buttermilk substitute can be made by adding one teaspoon vinegar to one and a half cups regular milk and letting it stand for a few minutes. 
• Handle the dough lightly--don't overwork it.
• Freeze the butter. It make it easier to grate and distribute it throughout the dough.
• For the very best results, your bowl and other utensils should be cold. 
• Rolling and folding the dough five times produces the flaky layers--again, don't get too heavy handed.
• Shaping the dough into a square and cutting it into squares avoids waste and rerolling (and overworking) the scraps. 
• If time allows, let the dough rest for 30 minutes wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge before you cut into squares. This helps them rise tall in the oven without slumping or sliding. 

Makes about a dozen biscuits. 

Chicken Pot Pie

If you have been reading this blog for a day or two, you will see a certain resemblance between this recipe and the one for Chicken and Dumplings. They are exactly alike, except that one is cooked in a pot and served with dumplings, and the other (this one) is baked with a biscuit topping.

Chicken stock

Potatoes, cubed

Celery, chopped

Carrots, peeled and sliced

1 tbl. cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Frozen peas

Optional: Small onions, peeled

Cooked chicken, cut up

Directions:

Simmer the potatoes, celery, carrots, and onions in the stock until done. Thicken the stock with 1 tbl. cornstarch mixed into 1/4 cup water. Cook for three additional minutes, then remove from heat.

Timing is everything here. While you are simmering the vegetables, prepare the biscuit dough below.

Add the peas and chicken to the stock/vegetable mixture and bring all to simmer.

Place the very hot chicken/vegetable mixture in an oblong Pyrex dish, 9" x 13". Top immediately with the cut out biscuits and bake in a preheated oven at 450˚ for 10 to 12 minutes.

If the chicken mixture isn't hot when you add the biscuits, they will be soggy.

Biscuit Topping for Chicken Pot Pie

2 cups sifted flour
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. sugar
½ cup shortening
2/3 cup milk

Sift dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk all at once, stir only until dough follows fork around the bowl. Turn out on lightly floured board and knead gently ½ minute. Pat or roll ½ inch thick, cut with biscuit cutter. Follow directions above.

Colonel Bill Newsom's Bacon Biscuits

Yes, I was a member of The Bacon of the Month Club. I have a t-shirt and everything. The Christmas gift of my year-long membership to this club was one of the sweetest most thoughtful gifts ever (from Marsha in 2005). Once a month, for the next twelve months, a special package would arrive with bacon from a different private farm that raised healthy pigs and used its own time-tested curing technique. This was no hormone-and-water-injected Hormel nonsense. This was the real deal! It was the gift that kept on giving (until the 12 months were up and it stopped giving).

Each month's bacon came with a recipe card, complete with a suggested wine pairing. Colonel Bill Newsom's Bacon came with this recipe:

--4 oz Thick-cut Smoky Bacon, small dice
--Preserved Bacon Drippings
--2 cups all-purpose Flour
--1 cup Buttermilk
--4 oz Butter, small dice
--1 tsp dry active Yeast
--1/2 tsp Sugar
--1 tbsp Salt
--1/2 tsp Baking Powder
--1/4 tsp Baking Soda
--2 oz cold Water
--1 tsp Black Pepper

Slow-cook the bacon on medium heat until the fat is rendered. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel and preserve the drippings.

Sift the flour, sugar, salt, black pepper, yeast, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl. Add the diced butter, cold water, buttermilk, bacon, and bacon drippings. Mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise - about 45 minutes to an hour.

Once dough has risen, turn out onto a floured work surface. Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees. Dust dough with flour and roll out to a thickness of 1/2-inch. Cut out rounds (1-inch to 2-inch) and arrange on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Shaker Raised Squash Biscuits

Although these are called biscuits for some reason, they are really raised rolls.

1 cup milk
4 tbl. butter or margarine
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp. salt
1 pkg. dry yeast
4-5 cups flour
1 ½ cups butternut squash; cooked, mashed, and sieved
2 eggs at room temperature

Dissolve yeast in a bit of warm water. Heat milk, add butter, sugar, salt. Cool to lukewarm. Add a couple of cups of flour to the milk mixture, then the yeast, the eggs and the squash. Mix well, add the rest of the flour.

Knead 7-8 minutes, let rise until doubled in a greased bowl, covered. Punch down dough. Turn out and shape into 3 dozen biscuits. Let rise on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Brush tops with butter while still hot.

Best Biscuits

2 cups sifted flour
4 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cream of tartar
2 tsp. sugar
½ cup shortening
2/3 cup milk

Sift dry ingredients. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add milk all at once, stir only until dough follows fork around the bowl. Turn out on lightly floured board and knead gently ½ minute. Pat or roll ½ inch thick, cut with biscuit cutter. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in 450 oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

Makes 16 biscuits.

Cheese Biscuits

First, open a nice dark beer for yourself. You'll need a bit of it for the recipe, and you might as well be sipping until that point.

Cheese Biscuits
½ cup butter
½ cup sharp cheese, grated
1 cup flour
Pinch of powdered mustard
A tiny bit of beer to moisten the dough, if needed

Blend, form into a 12 inch roll, chill, slice; or roll into small walnut-sized balls and flatten on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

These make a nice appetizer to have along with drinks. Makes about 36 little biscuits.