“Mastering biscuits is my life's work,” says Cheryl Day, the chef behind Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Georgia, a quaint bake shop in the eclectic Starland District. Since 2002, Day and her husband Griff have been churning out classic treats at this local favorite, with a menu that includes Grandma pizzas, salt-flaked chocolate chip cookies, buttercream cupcakes, and, most famously, buttery biscuits. Community is the prevailing ethos of Day’s operation. A James Beard finalist, her recent cookbook Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking is a celebration of the Black women who pioneered the tradition. Here, Day reveals her secrets to living well (listen to Maya Angelou and eat peach pie) and to making the best biscuits in the South. “Be prepared to get messy,” she says.
Biscuits are an icon of Southern baking, and some say it takes a lifetime to learn to make a really good one. To learn the feel of the biscuit dough is a skill that requires experience, but anyone can become a biscuit master if they are willing to put in the practice. Your hands and eyes are your best tools as you mix the dough. For this recipe, you fold and stack the dough to create the flaky layers. How you punch out the biscuits is also important. Never twist the cutter; the biscuits will have more loft if you don’t compress and seal the edges. Use any leftover biscuits for lunch or breakfast sandwiches.
Excerpted from Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking by Cheryl Day. Copyright © 2021. Excerpted by permission of Artisan Books.
Flaky Buttery Biscuits
Makes about 12 biscuits 1½ cups (188 g) cake flour (not self-rising) 4 cups (500 g) unbleached all-purpose flour 4 teaspoons fine sea salt 3½ teaspoons (15 g) baking powder, preferably aluminum-free 1½ teaspoons granulated sugar ½ teaspoon (3 g) baking soda ¾ pound (3 sticks/340 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch (1.5 cm) cubes, plus 4 tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, melted, for brushing 2 cups (473 ml) buttermilk Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling Special Equipment 2¼-inch (6 cm) biscuit cutter
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together both flours, the fine sea salt, baking powder, sugar, and baking soda.
Add the cold butter cubes and toss to coat. Working quickly, cut in the butter with a pastry blender, or pinch the cubes with your fingertips, smearing them into the flour. You should have various-sized pieces of butter, ranging from coarse sandy patches to flat shaggy shards to pea-sized chunks.
Give the ingredients a good toss with your hands to make sure all the pieces of butter are completely coated in flour.Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the buttermilk, and use your hands to mix the dry ingredients into the buttermilk until you have a shaggy dough. Gently turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. The dough should still look crumbly.
