Buttermilk Biscuits

Biscuits: a famous, occasionally daunting quick bread. My association with biscuits is often how long they can take to assemble—especially for a "quick bread" that doesn't need to rise. I like this recipe because it is quick and approachable. In terms of fluffiness and flakiness, these biscuits can't beat meticulously cutting in a pound of butter into flour. However, for taste and convenience (start to coming out of the oven, this recipe took 35 minutes), I highly approve. All hail Alton Brown.

Ingredients:

2 c. flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. shortening

1 c. buttermilk, chilled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingertips, rub butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface, dust top with flour and gently fold dough over on itself 5 or 6 times. Press into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a 2-inch cutter, being sure to push straight down through the dough. Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. (Biscuits from the second pass will not be quite as light as those from the first, but hey, that's life.)

Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.