• 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, cubed
• 3/4 cup cold milk

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F°.
2. To measure out the flour, first sift more flour than you will actually need into a separate bowl. Use a spoon to scoop the sifted flour into a measuring cup. Level off the cup but do not pack or compress the flour. Use this method to measure out two cups of flour.
   
3. Add the 2 cups of flour, the baking soda, sugar and salt to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
   
4. Remove the butter from the refrigerator and cube it. The process of cubing the butter will soften it just slightly which will help when cutting in the butter. Add 1/2 the cubed butter to the flour mixture.
   
5. Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until there are no large pieces of butter remaining. Once the first half of the butter is cut in, add the remaining butter to the bowl and repeat the cutting in process. If you do not have a pastry blender you can use a sturdy fork to cut in. Use the flat bottom of the fork to push through the butter mixture until cut in.
   
6. Add the very cold milk to the biscuit dough and quickly stir to combine. Do not overwork the dough at this point. Just stir until it forms a sticky mass. If the dough appears to be too dry, add an additional tablespoon or two of cold milk.
   
7. Sprinkle flour onto the counter creating a floured area that is roughly 18″ x 18″. Use a spatula to dump the biscuit dough into the center of the floured area.
   
8. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough mass and flour your hands. Knead the dough 4 or 5 times and then form it into a ball. To knead the dough, I gently press it flat and then fold it over onto itself. Repeat this process 4 or 5 times, lightly sprinkling flour onto the dough whenever it starts to get too sticky.
   
9. At this point, you are ready to cut out biscuits. Press the dough into a flat round that is 1/2″ to 3/4″ thick, depending on how thick you like your biscuits. I usually go with the 1/2″. Use a 3 inch biscuit cutter to cut out 6 to 8 biscuits. Dip the biscuit cutter into flour and then press straight through without twisting. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter you can use an upside down glass.
10. Once the biscuits are cut out, press the scraps together to form one or two more biscuits. These extra biscuits won’t be very attractive but they will still taste fine.
    
11. Place the biscuits onto a baking sheet. For crunchy sides, keep the biscuits separated. For soft sided biscuits, use a smaller baking sheet and make sure the biscuits are just touching.
12. Place the biscuits into the preheated oven and bake the biscuits for 12-15 minutes or until they are golden brown on top.
    

Serves 8-10

• If you have a food processor then you can use it to cut the butter into the dough. Insert the blade attachment into your food processor and add the dry mix and the butter. Pulse the food processor 8-10 times to cut in the butter. Do not process too long or you will end up melting the butter and melted butter means bad biscuits.

Tagged as: baking, Butter, flour