Big Flaky Biscuits

I'm trying to cut back on the amount of processed food my family eats and so cutting out the premade refrigerated Grands biscuits was an easy decision. The problem is that I have struggled to find a recipe that produced what I feel are big flaky biscuits.

I came across this biscuit recipe a little while ago on Pinterest, and wanted to give it a try.  You can find the original recipe here.  I adapted it slightly to make them plain.

Big Flaky Biscuits

3 cups all purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 cubes unsalted butter, cold
1 1/4 cups milk

Preheat oven to 450.  Sift to combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

Cut butter sticks into 1 Tbsp chunks and add to bowl.  Using either a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the butter until there are pea-size chunks or smaller.

Add milk and gently combine.  Save the measuring cup you used for the milk.  You will use the small amount of milk that is left in at the end.

Using either a pastry mat or your counter, flour the surface and turn out your dough.  Fold it over and gently knead your dough a few times to finish combining it and make it one complete mound.  Avoid adding any flour.  You want your dough to remain soft.

Use a rolling pin to roll out your dough to about a 3/4-inch thickness.  Use a biscuit cutter and cut out your biscuits and then place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Quick tip: If you want crispier edged biscuits separate your biscuits so that they do not touch.  If you want your edges to be soft, place your biscuits on the baking sheet so that they barely touch.

Re-roll the leftover dough and cut out more biscuits.   (I have made this recipe several times and each time I get 11 normal size biscuits and 1 tiny biscuit from this recipe.)

Once all of your biscuits are cut and arranged, use a brush (I usually use my finger) to lightly coat the top of each biscuit with the leftover milk.  (I told you to save it!)

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

These biscuits are big, very light and flaky and super tasty as well.  Don't let the time commitment scare you.  After you have made them one time, the recipe and rolling take a very minimal amount of time.  No, they are still not as quick as popping a tube from the fridge, but I feel better about what is in these. 

I think I have found my replacement biscuit!