J.R. Johnson

I lost my biscuit recipe the other day. You know how it goes, you dig through your cookbooks, go online, pick a selection of recipes that looks promising, triangulate ingredients and techniques, make adjustments, then test and sample and retest until you come up with a recipe that works for you. Then you lose the piece of paper you scribbled it all on.

So there I was on Valentine’s Day, all ready to make chicken pot pie with biscuits (one of Mr. Man’s favorites) but I was short one biscuit recipe. I cobbled together a replacement but it was an imperfect substitute. Good news? Mr. Man was still happy. More good news? I found my original recipe!

I like this one because it’s quick, easy, uses the kefir we always have, and the melted butter with cold milk trick results in a lot of well-distributed butter bits without all the hassle of cubing and cutting in.

I am hereby committing it to these pages for posterity, and for Valentine’s Days to come.

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Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

• 283g [2 C.] flour
• 9g [2 t.] baking powder
• 2.3g [½ t.] baking soda
• 5g [1 t.] sugar
• 3g [½ t.] salt
• 113g [½ C.] butter, melted
• 245g [1 C.] kefir or buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 475F.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt. 
3. Melt butter (I used the microwave for this), add kefir or buttermilk, whisk together.
4. Pour butter mixture into dry mix and stir until just incorporated.*
5. Scoop and drop large, rounded spoonfuls of dough onto a lined tray or on top of hot pot pie filling.
6. Bake until just golden and cooked through, 12-14 minutes for biscuits alone, or 24 minutes on pot pie.**

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* It’s easy to overwork biscuit dough. Ask me how I know!

** I’m experimenting with dropping the temperature to 425–450F for the last ten minutes of the pot pie to keep the edges from scorching, but that’s still in the trial phase. And I might add a bit more salt and sugar. And baste the top with butter when done, but only if they aren’t on top of the already buttery pot pie. And this is how I roll in the kitchen.

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