Biscuits & Gravy
This is a classic, hearty Southern breakfast item — perfect for a holiday breakfast when there’s no work to be done afterwards because you will need a nap.
Normally, the gravy is made with sausage and milk. Here, I like using thin slices of bacon to add smokiness. When making your biscuits, it’s important to keep your ingredients super cold — this will help create flakey layers within your biscuit dough. I referenced Baker Bettie’s recipe for Old-Fashioned Lard Biscuits — I think lard biscuits are crispier and generally taste better than butter biscuits.
If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use a quick trick to make some at home. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to your measuring cup and fill the remaining space with milk. Allow this mixture to sit in the fridge for 15-30 minutes before you make into your biscuit dough. Otherwise, you can use buttermilk.
Ingredients For the Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons leaf lard, cubed
1 tablespoon white vinegar
7 tablespoons whole milk, plus more for coating the biscuits before baking
Ingredients For the Bacon Gravy
1 lb bacon strips, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Chopped parsley or thinly sliced green onions for garnish
Serves 4-6
Instructions for the Biscuits
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
Measure and sift the dry ingredients for your biscuits including the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt. Place the dry ingredients and lard in the freezer for 30 minutes prior to making the biscuit dough. This will prevent your dough from becoming gummy. If you’re making buttermilk at home, combine the vinegar and milk together and allow to sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
In a medium mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients and cubed lard pieces. Using your hands or a pastry bench scrapper, chop the lard into the dry ingredients until you get pea-sized pieces of lard. Then, slowly add your buttermilk while you continue to mix the dough until there are no flour bits at the bottom of the bowl. Lightly flour your work surface before transferring the dough onto it. Fold the dough in half, turn 90 degrees and repeat until you form a rectangle. The dough should be approximately 1/2-inch thick for ten smaller biscuits or 1-inch thick for eight larger biscuits. Wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. If you want square biscuits, trim 1/8-inch off the edges of biscuit dough. Trimming the edges of the biscuits will prevent the edges from sealing and allow your biscuits to rise properly. Alternatively, you can either cut into squares or use a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Same principle applies, stick the cutter into the dough without twisting it too much to avoid sealing the edges. If you’re cutting round biscuits, you can roll out the dough a second time to cut your remaining biscuits. I would not roll the dough a third time as it will already be pretty gummy at this point and you’ll lose those beautiful layers. Using a pastry brush, paint a thin layer of milk on the biscuits before baking for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Instructions for the Bacon Gravy
In a medium sauté pan, add the thinly sliced bacon and 1/4 cup of water. Bring the entire pan up to medium heat. Using this method will prevent your bacon bits from burning in the pan before the fat can properly render. This will take about 8-10 minutes. Once the water has mostly evaporated and the bacon pieces are starting to crisp up, add your diced onion and sauté for another five minutes.
Add the flour to the bacon and onion mixture and cook for one minute to remove the raw taste of the flour. Add your milk and whisk, scrapping up all of the brown bits from the pan. Continue to whisk over medium heat until the gravy starts to thicken. At this point, season the gravy with freshly ground pepper and kosher salt to taste.
Once the gravy has thickened, spoon over halved slices of fresh biscuits and top with your garnish of choice. Enjoy with fresh black coffee!