Mark's fabulous biscuit method, evolved from Rise and Alton Brown recipes.
- 275g self-raising white flour
- 1 large egg,
- 2/3 cup buttermilk (or a bit less)
- 82g salted butter
- 0.75tsp salt
Make buttermilk - half way between 1/2 & 2/3 cup whole milk, ~4tsp lemon juice (should add to 2/3 cup total), stir, leave for ~10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 215c
Beat egg
Sift flour and add salt, mix up in largish bowl.
Slice butter into ~3-5mm layers and put into flour mix, then cut in using two knives until the butter is approx pea-sized chunks, handling as little as possible.
Make a well in centre of mixture
Add beaten egg
Add 120g of buttermilk and mix using silicon spatula, until just combined (sticky/lumpy is the order of the day) - assess wetness and add more buttermilk if needed, wants to be very wet but not too wet (err on side of NOT too wet if in ANY DOUBT; you really don't want it to stick to the surface, usually a little less than full amount of buttermilk).
Sieve plenty of flour over clean surface; nice big area.
Turn out the mixture and sieve a layer of flour on to the top of it.
Pat to ~1" thick layer and fold over on itself exactly five times, patting down to approx 1" thick after each fold using silicon spatula or by hand. If you got the wetness right above, it should not be sticking to everything here.
After the final fold, ensure you have a 'generous' 1" thick layer to cut from.
Use 78mm cutter (for 4x HUGE biscuits) to cut the biscuits - cut straight down and do not twist trying to make four equal sized biscuits, some reforming likely required for the final one or two. For many tiny biscuits, a 58mm cutter works well. Reform any remains into a final runty ball for the chef to test once cooked ;)
It can help to reform slightly after each cut and always cut from the edge, so as not to leave any bits. Between each cut, use flour to rub any sticky bits off cutter.
Place cut biscuits onto baking paper on a baking sheet - put right up against each other - i.e. actually touching at the sides. Silicon spatula helpful to go under cutter while transferring to baking sheet.
Bake 12-15 minutes until risen and golden. Prepare scramble and/or coffee while baking, and melt some butter.
Brush biscuits with the melted butter after removing from oven then transfer from baking sheet/paper immediately onto wire rack to retain crispy bums.
Slice and serve with scrambled egg (any spare buttermilk goes fabulously in scramble) and cheese (cheddar, American, or even parmesan works)
EAT!!!!!