Alison Roman’s Greatest Biscuits
Go take a look at the picture Alison posted when she shared this recipe on her substack. How could one resist? A few years ago, Ronnie and I were in Nashville and we had the best biscuit of our life at the Thompson Hotel. I thought I would never have anything again that tasted anywhere near as good, until Alison Roman’s biscuit recipe entered my life. Since I have trust issues and a deep-seated fear one day she will have erased it from the internet, I am putting it here, safe on my blog, where I can come back to it over and over again. Enjoy!
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Yields - 8 biscuits
Cook time -
What You’ll Need
Biscuits
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 tbs baking powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, chilled
1 ¼ cups buttermilk, plus more for brushing
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Jam
4 pounds of blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries; or 4½ pounds/2kg strawberries (hulled and quartered), peaches, nectarines, plums, or apricots (pitted and chopped)
3 cups sugar
¼ cup fresh lemon or lime juice (about 2 lemons or limes)
How to Make It
Biscuits
Alison says that “Biscuit making is a practice, a recipe you begin to feel rather than follow.” so keep that in mind if you try this once, twice, thrice. I bet you, like me, will get better each time <3
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, kosher salt, sugar, and baking soda in a large bowl. Using your hands, smash the butter into the flour mixture. It should be almost like you’re making pie dough (you’ve made pie dough before, right?), with little bits of butter but no large chunks.
Drizzle half the buttermilk all over the dry mixture and, using a wooden spoon or, better yet, your hands, mix everything until it comes together. Add the remaining half of buttermilk and mix until it comes together into a sort of ball. Knead the mixture a few times in the bowl, making sure to get any of those dry bits at the bottom up into the mix.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead another two or three times.
Pat the dough into a 1 ½-inch-thick rectangle about 9 inches long and 5 inches wide. (Optional: Refrigerate for 1–48 hours ahead of time before slicing and baking.) Cut it in half lengthwise, then crosswise into 4 pieces (you should get 8 biscuits). Alternatively, you can pat the dough into a 1 ½ -inch-thick disk (or whatever shape) and punch out 2-inch circles.
Place the biscuits on the parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the tops with buttermilk, letting some drip down the sides. Sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt, if you’re feeling fancy.
Bake, rotating once, until the biscuits are deeply, fantastically, wonderfully golden brown on the bottoms and tops, and the sides have puffed up like an accordion, 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before destroying.
Jam
In a large heavy-bottomed pot, toss the fruit and sugar together. Let sit at least 15 minutes, up to overnight, tossing periodically to dissolve the sugar (this will help coax the juices out of the fruit to give the jam a head start).
Bring the fruit to a strong simmer over medium-high heat, until the juices start to boil, 3–4 minutes.
Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir the jam occasionally at first, then more frequently as the jam cooks and juices thicken (see Note). Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and the fruit has started to break down to the point you’d start to call it “jammy,” 40–50 minutes. How much it breaks down will depend on the fruit (e.g., strawberries and peaches are likely to remain chunkier while raspberries and apricots will break down almost entirely).
Add the lemon juice and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the jam has returned to its previously thickened state, another 8–10 minutes. Test the jam by spooning a bit of jam onto a plate and pop it into the fridge for a few minutes, then drag your finger through it—it should hold its shape without appearing watery or runny. If it’s not there yet, cook a few minutes more. (Some fruit, like strawberries, contain more water and less natural pectin than, say, a raspberry. So the jam may never be quite as thick or gelled, but will nevertheless be delicious.)
Remove from the heat. Using a ladle (carefully! The jam is very hot!), divide jam among 4 half-pint/250ml jars and seal immediately. Let come to room temperature on your counter before refrigerating (or canning).
Enjoy!
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