Martha Stewart's Baking Powder Biscuits
Why I Love This Recipe
I just started baking my way through Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. These baking powder biscuits were my first adventure. They are very rich, and surprisingly easy. We have been munching on them all week. I included a little dried rosemary and basil for herb flavor, even though you really don't need to add a thing.
Ingredients You'll Need
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
2 cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°.
In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining. Add remaining 2 cups flour, and toss to combine.
Pour in heavy cream; using a rubber spatula, fold cream into dough, working in all directions and incorporating crumbs at the bottom of the bowl, until dough just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With floured fingers, gently pat dough into a round about 1 inch thick, pressing in any loose bits. Do not overwork the dough.
Use a floured 3-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits as close together as possible. (Use one cut edge as the edge for the next biscuit.)
Place biscuits on an unlined baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Generously brush tops of biscuits with cream.
Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until biscuits are golden and flecked with brown spots, 20 to 25 minutes.
Transfer biscuits to a wire rack to cool.