Buttermilk Biscuits

One of my first quests in this new year of making a home by hand is to start in the kitchen, where I find myself for a good portion of the day. It is where we cook, eat, play, craft, and homeschool.
I am not a morning person. Somedays, all I want to do is go back to bed, especially if the baby has kept me up more than usual the night before. So breakfast, while it seems, to my kids at least, to be the reason for waking up early, is not something I often anticipate. The usual suspects at the table for the morning feast are cereal, poptarts, muffins, or waffles. In my defense, they are at least from a mix kind of waffles, but thats another post.
This is about slowing down, remember? And learning to do things differently. About living a simpler life and nurturing my family.
This is about biscuits.

Warm, soft, homemade buttermilk biscuits. With butter and honey and strawberry jam... (doesn't it just make your mouth water?)
It is so easy to grab a can of Grands! biscuits at the store. So easy to bang the can on the counter, lay out the little disks of dough and wait 15-18 minutes for hot biscuits. But when I do that, I have only paid for the excuse to not learn to make something better, something that I can be proud of and know my family will enjoy and maybe even look forward too. And when they are gone, they are gone. And there are only about 10 or so in there anyway I believe.
Grands are good, but these biscuits are better.
This recipe is from another blogger, it is not my own creation, but it is  forevermore my homemade biscuit recipe.

Southern-Style Buttermilk Biscuits

4 c. flour

2 T. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

2 t. salt

4 T. sugar

1/2 c. (one stick) butter, cold, cubed

1 1/2 c. buttermilk

4 T. butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.  

Mix together the dry ingredients.

Cut in butter. I like to use my fingers to scrunch it all up. That way I don't miss any chunks.

Carefully pour in the buttermilk and mix well.

Turn out onto a floured surface, it's ok if not everything is incorporated with the dough, just try to work it all in when you knead.

Knead lightly about 15-20 times, until dough holds together easily. Be careful not to work it too much or the biscuits wont be as light. Press the dough outward by hand- don't use a roling pin. I usually cut my biscuits at about 3/4 inch high. They will double in the oven. Use a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass to cut the biscuits. Press straight down, don't twist.

Roll up the scraps together, press and cut.

Lay out on an oiled cookie sheet or, even better, a cast iron pan. Bake about 8-12 minutes depending on your oven, or until tops are golden brown and dry.

Remove from the oven and brush with the remaining butter. 

I usually double this recipe and freeze a good portion of the uncooked, cut-out biscuits on a cookie sheet, then throw them in a gallon size freezer bag. When I need a few, I pop them right in the hot stove and they bake up just like fresh ones.