Southern Biscuits

Recipe By: Chef Tim O’Donnell, C.E.C.
Yield: 12 biscuits

Ingredients:

1. 465 grams White Lily Self-Rising Flour, 1 pound
2. 15 grams baking powder, .53 ounces
3. 4 grams salt, course, .14 ounces
4. 22 grams sugar, .78 ounces
5. 170 grams salted butter, 6 ounces, frozen
6. 400 grams buttermilk, 14.1 ounces, very cold
7. 50 grams egg, 1.8 ounces

50 grams water, 1.8 ounces

Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Grate butter over bowl of dry ingredients.
3. Using your hands, gently mix to coat butter shavings. Avoid crushing the grated butter back into a mass.
4. Once shavings are coated, they won’t stick. Now cut in the butter by grinding handfuls of the mix between your fingers and palm.
5. Drizzle buttermilk into flour-butter mixture.
6. Using your hands or a spoon, mix in buttermilk until dough just barely comes together — 12 to 18 turns of the spoon.
7. The mix should be wet to the touch.
8. Lightly flour the dough, and press it into a ball.
9. Place on a tray lined with parchment paper.
10. Form dough into a rectangle 8 in by 11 in, and about 1 in thick.
11. Freeze 10 minutes for easier cutting.
12. Cut into 12 squares, and pull them apart by about 3⁄16 in.
13. Make an egg wash by mixing equal parts eggs and water until thin.
14. Brush onto the biscuits.
15. If making ahead, freeze for baking later.
16. To serve, bake at 400 °F  until golden, about 15 minutes, or until the core temperature reaches 190 °F