From Pantry to Plate in 20 Minutes - The Basic Biscuit

There is seldom a more pleasing thing than a fresh made biscuit.  I'm talking about the basic biscuit.  Flour, baking powder, salt and milk.  My grandmother used to always bake her own biscuits as well as bread.  I've not taken on bread as yet.  That can be left for the future.  Today I planned on having some of the left over mulligatawny lamb soup I made for dinner last night.  I only had some store bought rye bread on the shelf and that was not going to pair well with this lovely soup.  I thought for a second and a little biscuit appeared above my head!

First, preheat your oven to 400.  Then I simply put together 2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, one stick of butter (cubed in small bits) and just under a cup of milk to start.  If you find you need more milk, then you can add it.  Today, I did indeed need a bit more to make the dough just right.  Another tip I heard on the TV show, "Chef At Home".  He suggest to freeze the stick of butter and then grate it into the dough mixture.  Works great!   Once you have the dough - and be sure to not over work the dough, I suggest to either roll it out or work quickly with your hands to flatten it out to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  Then take a sharp knife and cut it in triangles or squares and please, please don't worry about making them all the exact same size and perfect shape.  To me it is much more appealing to have these rough made looking biscuits piled on a plate to welcome your family and or guests.  Bake them for about 10 to 15 minutes..check them after 10 minutes and if they need it, you can bake them up to 15 minutes.  Today, mine were ready after 13 minutes.

The great thing about basic biscuits is that they only take about 20 minutes from pantry to plate.  I also found these rich enough...okay, maybe I used a bit more butter than was needed, but only a tad...that I did not need to spread butter on these biscuits.  Needless to say, lunch was great with these biscuits.

Enjoy the biscuits when you make them and by the way, this recipe makes about 6 triangle cut biscuits of a good size - if you're from the south or another area that just loves sausage gravy with biscuits, this biscuit is the one for you.  Bon appetit!