Have you heard about Tarrant Area Food Bank’s free culinary training program, Community Kitchen? Students from all backgrounds receive state-of-the-art training from TAFB’s very own professionally trained chefs. Production Chef Dedrich “D” Flint definitely knows his way around a kitchen. Watch as he gives his tips for making mouth-watering biscuits and be sure to scroll down for a white gravy recipe to top everything off. Enjoy!
Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
Directions:
Notes: For best results, chill butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It’s ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits.
1. Preheat oven to 425 F and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.
3. Remove butter from the refrigerator. Either cut it into your flour mixture using a pastry cutter or use a box grater to shred the butter into small pieces, preferred, and add to the flour mixture. Then stir.
4. Cut the butter or combine the grated butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Add milk. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until combined (don’t over-work the dough).
6. Transfer your dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable.
7. Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step five to six times but taking care to not overwork the dough.
8. Use your hands, not a rolling pin, to flatten the dough one inch thick. Then lightly dust a round biscuit cutter (about 2 3/4 inches) with flour.
9. Making close cuts, press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.
10. Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible. Place less than one-half inch apart on baking sheet.
11. Gently re-work the extra dough to get out another biscuit or two until you have at least 6 biscuits.
12. Bake at 425 F for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to turn a light, golden-brown color.
13. If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.
White Gravy Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or pan drippings
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock (adds flavor)
Notes: You can use other other stock options depending on the flavor profile you are looking to achieve. Half and half or heavy cream can be substituted for “milk” either adds more flavor because of the fat content.
Directions
1. Heat the oil/drippings in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Whisk in the flour, salt and pepper until smooth.
3. Cook and stir over medium heat until browned or it smells “nutty,” about 10 minutes.
4. Gradually stir in milk so that no lumps form, and continue cooking and stirring until thickened. If the gravy becomes too thick, you may thin it with a little more milk.
5. Pour over Chef D’s biscuits or anything else that could use a little gravy love!
