Biscuits and Gravy
The great Southern breakfast: tall, flaky buttermilk biscuits fresh from the oven, smothered in a creamy, peppery sausage gravy.
Method
Preheat the oven to 220 °C and line a baking tray with parchment. In a large bowl, whisk together the biscuit flour, baking powder and salt.
Add in this stepAll-purpose flour (biscuits) 140 gBaking powder 1½ tspSalt (biscuits) ½ tsp
ovenAdd the cold butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips or a fork for , until it is in pea-sized pieces. The butter must stay cold: in the oven it turns to steam and lifts the biscuits into layers. If your hands are warm, chill the bowl for 5 minutes first.
Add in this stepUnsalted butter, very cold, diced 55 g
Pour in the cold buttermilk and stir with a spatula only until no dry flour remains; a shaggy, lumpy dough is right. Turn it onto a floured counter, pat it into a 13×10 cm rectangle about 2 cm thick, fold it in half and pat it out again, twice. Cut 6 cm rounds with a cutter or glass, pressing straight down without twisting.
Add in this stepButtermilk, cold (or milk soured with lemon juice) 110 ml
Set the biscuits on the tray just touching each other, brush the tops with melted butter and bake in the oven for , until tall and golden on top. Make the gravy while they bake.
Add in this stepMelted butter (for brushing) 1 tbsp
ovenHeat a 24 cm frying pan over medium-high heat, add the sausage and cook for , breaking it into small crumbles with a spatula, until browned with no pink left. Do not drain the fat. If the pan looks dry, melt in the gravy butter.
Add in this stepBulk breakfast sausage, casing removed (or ground pork) 200 gButter (for the gravy, if the pan is dry) 1 tbsp
medium-high heatTurn the heat down to medium heat, sprinkle the gravy flour evenly over the meat and stir for to cook out the raw flour taste.
Add in this stepAll-purpose flour (gravy) 3 tbsp
medium heatPour in the milk in three additions, stirring well each time to smooth out lumps. Simmer on medium heat for , stirring often, until the gravy coats the back of a spoon. Stir in the pepper and season with salt. It thickens as it cools, so loosen it with a splash of milk if needed.
Add in this stepWhole milk 350 mlCoarsely ground black pepper ¾ tspSalt (gravy) to taste
medium heatSplit the warm biscuits open on plates and spoon plenty of hot gravy over them. Finish with a little extra pepper and serve right away.
Cook's tip
No buttermilk? Stir 1 tbsp lemon juice into 250 ml milk and leave it for 5 minutes. Handle the dough as little as possible, or the biscuits turn tough. Classic gravy uses sage-and-pepper breakfast sausage; with plain ground pork, add a little dried sage and salt.
Cooking it at camp
At camp, bake the biscuits in a lidded cast-iron Dutch oven with coals underneath and on the lid, or flatten them and cook them slowly in an oiled pan on low heat, turning once, until golden on both sides. The gravy needs just one burner.