Fuzzy received more than a quarter of his education in Indiana, and has developed a penchant for burritos the size of your biceps, burgers with half-pound patties and peanut butter (yucky to me) smeared all over, chili con carne with corn bread, foot-long hot dogs with relish, vats of fries, and of course, the Southern favourite, biscuits and gravy.
He's been bugging me for years now, to make him a huge batch of fluffy biscuits with thick sausage gravy. I've been putting it off all this time because frankly, I don't quite see the appeal of eating butter-rich, starchy biscuits with flour-thickened mystery-meat gravy poured all over. At this point, Fuzzy would say, "But, that's just you." Anyway, I'm done procrastinating, and to get Fuzzy off my back, I set my mind to make it our Sunday lunch this past weekend. I looked at some biscuit recipes (very similar to that of a scone) and came up with a recipe that I thought would work best. As for the gravy, I sort of eyeballed it, and it turned out well.
The result? The biscuits were fluffy, moist and surprisingly didn't weigh me down like a brick. They were so good that I'm contemplating making them on a weekly basis for Saturday breakfasts. I managed to put two biscuits away, but Fuzzy valiantly wolfed four down. I wasn't so crazy on the gravy, even though Fuzzy loved it. Nonetheless, we've definitely maxed out our calories for the day.
Biscuits My Way
Ingredients:-
2 cups plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup Greek/ plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
115g cold butter
Method:-
1) Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.
2) Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Mix in sugar.
3) Work in cubes of cold butter with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Do not overwork the dough.
4) Stir the milk and yogurt well together, before adding to the mixture.
5) Knead the dough until all the liquid is absorbed.
6) Line a pan with parchment paper.
7) Pat out the dough till 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on pan and bake for about 12 minutes or until slightly golden on top.
These biscuits are great with jam, preserves or honey for breakfast; as I plan to do with the leftovers. And feel free to make them more savoury by adding a big handful of grated Parmesan or aged Cheddar in the dough before baking; those would go perfectly with an ice-cold mug of beer. Cheers to the ultimate Southern comfort food!
