Anyone make their own?
I have three variations that I make: Eastern NC Buttermilk Biscuits, Cream Biscuits, and my latest creation, the hybrid Cream-Lard-Buttermilk biscuit.
The ENC version is what I grew up with. The best online recipe is here. It only makes sense that the author's recipe is virtually identical to what I'm accustomed to since she's from the same part of NC as my family. These are my favorite taste-wise, but they are tedious to make. I also hate getting gloopy dough stuck to my fingers, so the mixing process triggers me.
Cream biscuits are a recent discovery on my part. They're simple and quick to make, but not as flavorful. The recipe is here. You can further simplify the recipe by using self-rising flour and cream, making it a two ingredient biscuit. I top the uncooked biscuits with melted butter before the tray goes into the oven. I also grease the pan with lard so the bottoms crisp up a bit.
I've recently come up with a hybrid that gives me most of the flavor of the ENC biscuit, but the easy assembly and gloop-avoidance of the cream biscuits.
I use the cream biscuit recipe, but add a healthy dollop of lard and two tablespoons of buttermilk powder, something I only recently discovered in the baking isle at the grocery store. I mix in the lard after sifting my dry ingredients, but before adding the heavy cream. I do so with a pastry blender until the resulting flour/lard mixture is crumbly. Then, I add the cream and use the pastry blender to mix it until the dough can be lifted out of the bowl and rolled out with a rolling pin, ready to cut into uniform biscuits (another facet of my neurosis). I top with melted butter and bake it in the same manner as the original cream biscuit recipe. This hybrid biscuit has turned into my family's favorite biscuit.
In all cases, while this is being done, I braise a couple large slices of country ham in a covered pan on the stove until it is falling apart tender and get a dollop of butter and some beef bullion melting in a half-cup of black coffee so I can make red-eye gravy with the ham drippings (don't forget a large amount of black pepper...wife loves the black pepper). I serve the biscuits, ham, and gravy with an assortment of molasses (made from the finest Virginia moles...sorry, dad joke), honey, and jam.
What do y'all make?
Chris