Biscuits and Gravy
This is one of our families favorite comfort foods. I have tried numerous recipes and we have landed on this one as our favorite. Homemade biscuits are not hard and well worth the added effort. You can make the biscuits in advance - they reheat well in a toaster oven.
Equipment
- biscuit cutter is helpful, but not necessary
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 6 tbsp butter
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup milk, plus 1 tsp vinegar works also
Gravy
- 1 lb sausage
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 cups milk
Instructions
Biscuits
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees
- Cut butter into small cubes. Place in freezer while you prepare other dry ingredients. Do not freeze!
- Mix together dry ingredients. I use a food processor for this step, but you can also mix by hand.
- Add the cold butter to dry ingredients. If using a food processor, pulse until it resembles course crumbles. If mixing by hand, use a pastry cutter or two knives.
- Place butter / flour mixture in a large bowl (if not already in one). Add buttermilk and mix until combined. Do not overmix. It will be sticky - but should be manageable and not too wet. If needed add a bit more flour.
- Turn dough out onto a well floured surface and pat into a rectangle. Make sure your hands are well floured as well.
- Now you are going to make those beautiful layers by folding it onto itself six times. Fold in half. Then fold in half again. Do this process six times until you end up with a tall stack. I press it down a little in between folds.
- Once your folds are complete, press the dough down so it is about 1 inch thick. Make sure the top is nice and flat... that will help your biscuits to rise evenly and not be lopsided.
- Using a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits. Note: You can reshape your dough 1 to 2 times more, but keep in mind that the more you handle the dough the less flaky the biscuits will be.
- Place biscuits (almost touching) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until brown.
Sausage Gravy
- Saute sausage until cooked and golden brown on medium heat.
- Once sausage is cooked, sprinkle with 1/4 cup of flour and stir to combine. Allow to cook about 3 minutes.
- Turn burner to medium low and slowly add the milk, mixing as you pour. I like to pour the milk in a single stream slowly - it seems to thicken better this way. Use 2-3 cups of milk - depending on desired consistency. Gravy will thicken over time and you can simply add more milk to thin it out.
- Once gravy is done, add pepper to taste. Fresh ground pepper is best!
- Pour gravy over biscuits and serve.
Notes
Biscuit recipe is compliments of The Chunky Chef. These are the best I have found and I have tried a few.
The sausage you choose makes a difference in the quality of your gravy. Try a few different options... you will find your favorite. Unfortunately my favorite sausage comes from a farm in Colorado... and I now live in the Midwest. So I am searching again.