Biscuits & Gravy

Biscuits & Gravy

Here's the deal - biscuits and gravy = awesome!

A family favorite - biscuits & gravy.

It is a popular (often associated with the South) breakfast that is super easy to make, but I think it would also make a wonderful brunch or a quick breakfast for dinner recipe (with a side of vegetables, of course ;)). It's a rare treat around here, but highly anticipated.

You can use the pop biscuits from the can...but really, just make them from scratch...so worth it! I have spent years trying to make the perfect biscuits that have light layers and finally my search has ended. There are two recipes that I have found worthy of ending the search - Alton Brown's Biscuits and Smitten Kitchen's Biscuits. They are slightly different and for the sake of not using shortening, I chose the latter today, but I have tried both and they are both wonderful.

Light, Fluffy, Golden, and Tall - biscuit perfection!

BISCUITS
(slightly adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

2 1/4 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp. sugar (if you want a sweeter biscuit sometime, just increase this)

1 Tb. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

9 Tb. chilled unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

3/4 c. buttermilk or soured milk

Heat oven to 400 °F. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in large, wide bowl. Using pastry blender, cut butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, Add milk and stir until large clumps form. Reach hands into bowl and knead mixture briefly until it just holds together (add a little more milk if needed).

Transfer dough to floured counter and pat out until 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick. Using a round cutter (2 inches for regular sized biscuits), press straight down and transfer rounds to baking stone* (or metal pan if you prefer).

Bake until biscuits are golden brown on top - 12 to 15 minutes. Serve hot!

This will make about 12-14 2-inch biscuits

*I bake on stones. I am a firm believer in their awesomeness and find that my baked goods are simply better when I use them.

**You can add in cheese or herbs with the dry ingredients, if you want to make these fancy.

Cast Iron Skillet = one of my favorite kitchen items.

Here's the deal on the gravy - you can use however much sausage you like. I love the flavor that it gives, but I like to stretch my meat and don't like a really meaty gravy. This is how I do it and it is perfect for us - great gravy to meat ratio. I do think the two things that make this simple gravy awesome is the iron skillet and the amount of pepper. Oh and you can halve this recipe for 2-4 people. My people eat a lot and this was scraped clean by our family of 6. :)

SAUSAGE GRAVY

1/2 lb. bulk sausage

1/2 c. flour

4 c. milk

salt

fresh ground pepper

In a large cast iron skillet (If you don't own one, go buy one because you will use it for everything...but in the mean time, you can use a regular skillet.), brown your sausage, breaking it up into small pieces. Once browned, stir in flour and continue cooking for a minute or two. Slowly stir in the milk. Add salt & pepper to taste (I did about 1/2 tsp of each, but taste as you go to adjust for your palate and for the seasoning of your sausage). Continue to stir and loosen any bits from the bottom of the skillet until the gravy is just starting to bubble and gravy is thick. Serves over hot biscuits. 

Sweet Potato Biscuits

These were so quick to put together! They were very simple and went perfectly with the soup and salad I had made for dinner. They were light and fluffy and had terrific flavor.

I think these would be wonderful for Thanksgiving. You could change them up by adding maple syrup instead of sugar or by adding a little cinnamon. They bake for less than 15 minutes which makes them ideal to pop in right as people are gathering (and the oven is finally empty) and then pull them out warm as everyone is filling their plate. I served them with just butter but a maple butter or orange butter would also be good or a drizzle of honey.  

SWEET POTATO BISCUITS
(Food Network Magazine, November 2011, Paula Deen)
Print This Recipe

3/4 c. cooked mashed sweet potato (about 1 large sweet potato)
1/3 to 1/2 c. whole milk, as needed
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 Tb. sugar (I think maple syrup would be delish - you would not need quite as much milk)
1 Tb. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
6 Tb. cold unsalted butter, cut into small bits

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet (with butter, oil or cooking spray).

In a small bowl, whisk together the sweet potato and 1/3 cup milk. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter with your hands, a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the sweet potato mixture and fold gently to combine. Add the remaining milk a little at a time until all the flour is moistened. The amount of milk you will need will depend on the moisture of the sweet potato.

Sprinkle a small handful of flour on a work surface. Turn the dough out onto the surface and knead lightly 2 to 3 times with the palm of your hand until the mixture comes together. Pat the dough out into a 1/2-inch-thick round.

Using a biscuit cutter, cut the dough into biscuits. Gently reroll the scraps and cut out more biscuits. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet and bake until light golden brown and firm to the touch, 12 to 14 minutes. Serve these fluffy biscuits warm or at room temperature. Makes 9-12.