Cathead Biscuits Recipe

Although I’m a born and bred Northerner hailing from New Jersey, I began baking professionally whereas residing in Birmingham, Alabama. Earlier than transferring to the South, I’d solely ever encountered one sort of biscuit: a tall, buttery, buttermilk biscuit with flaky, neatly-stacked layers. This frequent selection (which I’ll confer with from right here onward as a “lower biscuit”) is what many Individuals contemplate a Southern-style biscuit. And it’s—however it isn’t the one one. After I moved to Alabama, I shortly discovered that the sphere of Southern biscuits is huge. Inside the primary classes of lower biscuits and drop biscuits, there are myriad variations: cream biscuits, candy potato biscuits, angel biscuits, benne seed biscuits, and my specific favourite, cathead biscuits. 

Cathead biscuits, quite a lot of drop biscuits, are fairly common within the American South, however lesser identified elsewhere. These further massive biscuits are crisp and golden on the surface, whereas remaining exceptionally fluffy and moist on the within. As a bonus, they’re a lot simpler to make than basic lower biscuits. Earlier than I dive into the actual wonders of cathead biscuits, it’s essential to know the 2 foremost strategies used to make biscuits.

Minimize Biscuits vs. Drop Biscuits

The primary distinction between lower biscuits and drop biscuits rests in approach—the previous is rolled and lower, whereas the latter is solely dropped onto the pan, both with a measuring cup, cookie scoop, or a pair of arms. Whereas lower biscuits are tall, layered, and flaky, drop biscuits are softer, fluffier, and extra tender. 

Most lower biscuits recipes name for rolling, folding, or stacking the dough to create flaky layers. This step is essential to attaining tall, flaky biscuits, because the butter melts and produces pockets of steam contained in the pastry, however the technique leaves a number of room for person error. Work the dough an excessive amount of, and also you’ll develop extra gluten, leading to dense, bready biscuits; transfer too slowly and the butter inside will soften, compromising the biscuit’s flaky construction. Since drop biscuits don’t require rolling or reducing, there’s much less threat of overworking and warming up the dough. The dough can even take in extra liquid with out turning into too tough to deal with, as there’s no rolling or folding concerned.

A Transient Historical past of Cathead Biscuits

Cathead biscuits are a supersized number of drop biscuits, so named for his or her gargantuan measurement because the biscuits are fairly actually as large as a cat’s head. Rumor has it that these biscuits date again to the Civil Battle when, to save lots of time, cooks merely plopped mounds of dough onto a baking sheet. Some Southerners say these colorfully-named biscuits originated in Appalachia; others, the Mississippi Delta. Evidently, the biscuits turned a regional staple, and immediately, you will discover them at barbecue joints, truck stops, meat-and-threes, and residential dinner tables throughout the American South. The fluffy inside makes it a really perfect car for sopping up gravy, meat juices, or no matter else is in your plate.

In a 1996 overview for the New York Times, journalist Rick Bragg famous that only a few Atlanta eating places nonetheless served conventional Southern-style food. He argued that the area’s finest home-style cooking may very well be present in houses themselves, opening with an outline of the biscuits he loved at 75-year-old Mrs. Ruby Pearl Barber’s kitchen desk: “Down right here they name them cathead biscuits, as a result of they’re concerning the measurement of a kitten’s head, crispy on the surface, fluffy on the within, slathered with muscadine jelly and white butter, or opened up and smothered in white milk gravy.” The one drawback? These biscuits weren’t on the market.

It’s exactly for that reason that cathead biscuits have remained considerably of a Southern secret: they’re the South’s humble, on a regular basis biscuit, discovered at greasy spoons and on checker-clothed tables. Until you grew up within the South or selected it as your adopted residence like I did, it’s completely attainable that you just’d by no means encounter one.

Although lower biscuits nonetheless stay the usual in eating places, bakeries, and grocery aisles, cathead biscuits have begun to earn nationwide recognition as Southern bakers and cookbook authors, together with recipe” data-component=”hyperlink” data-source=”inlineLink” data-type=”externalLink” data-ordinal=”1″ rel=”nofollow”>Cheryl Day and Jocelyn Delk Adams, have begun to share their recipes for the Southern staple. In 2013, Biscuit Head—an Asheville, North Carolina breakfast store specializing in cathead biscuits—catapulted the lesser-known selection into the national spotlight, incomes accolades for his or her fluffy, extra-large biscuits. It’s the store that first launched me to cathead biscuits, and the primary time I tasted one, I marveled over its tender crumb and unexpectedly mild texture. It was not heavy nor greasy—it was ethereal and plush. I’ve been hooked ever since. 

Dialing within the Components for the Greatest Cathead Biscuits

In my quest to develop a recipe for tender, fluffy cathead biscuits, I began with a primary biscuit ratio (one of many basic tenets of baking): one half fats to 2 components liquid to 3 components flour. As a result of drop biscuits can deal with extra liquid than a lower biscuit—since they don’t must be rolled and lower—I elevated the amount of buttermilk to just about equal the quantity of flour. I additionally elevated the quantity of fats to yield a lighter, airier biscuit, because the butter melts within the oven and creates pockets of steam. Buttermilk contributes moisture and tang, its acidity reacting with the leavening agent to supply an increase. As soon as I’d settled on a primary method, I sought to reply two main questions: Which forms of flour and fats would yield the fluffiest, most tender biscuits?

All-Goal Flour vs. Cake Flour

It’s not simply custom that makes Southern biscuits higher than the remaining—it’s the substances used, too. Earlier than nationwide transportation networks enabled extra widespread, cross-regional commerce within the early nineteenth century, all flour was milled from native wheat—tender purple winter wheat within the South, and a mix of sentimental and exhausting wheat within the North. “Arduous wheat has a better protein content material (11-15%) than tender wheat (5-9%), which means the previous has extra capability for gluten improvement than the latter,” explains former Severe Eats editor Kristina Razon in her information to the forms of flour. The lower-protein flour made Southern baked items (together with pound cake, pie crust, and biscuits) significantly tender. White Lily—the South’s signature flour model—nonetheless makes use of 100% tender purple winter wheat (for a protein rely of 9%) and is just out there regionally. White Lily’s low protein content material of 9% means it produces tender, fluffy pastries, and is right for getting ready cathead biscuits.

In the event you don’t reside within the South, it could be tough to find White Lily flour. You possibly can, nonetheless, create an analogous product by mixing all-purpose flour (sometimes 10–11% protein) and bleached cake flour (7–8% protein) That is the method Day takes in her recipe for cathead biscuits, calling for a 50/50 cut up. However I puzzled if utilizing two forms of flour was actually essential. A part of the attraction of cathead biscuits is, in spite of everything, its ease and unfussiness. 

To find out if mixing two forms of flour actually made a distinction, I examined this biscuit recipe with cake flour, a 50/50 mix of all-purpose and cake flour, and solely all-purpose flour. 

• Cake flour: The biscuits made with solely cake flour had been too crumbly and spongy, extra carefully resembling a scone or shortcake than a biscuit. They lacked structural integrity and crumbled simply when lifted off the plate.
• 50/50 all-purpose flour and cake flour: The biscuits made with a 50/50 cut up of cake flour and all-purpose flour had been considerably extra tender and fluffy. The crumb was tender and tender, but sturdy sufficient to qualify as a biscuit.
• All-purpose flour: The biscuits made with solely all-purpose flour had been satisfactory, however barely powerful and dry. Wonderful for smothering in gravy, however much less perfect for a breakfast sandwich or consuming out of hand.

Briefly: It’s completely price searching for out cake flour if you would like tender, pillowy biscuits. Keep away from unbleached cake flour, although which may flip the biscuits dense, as former Severe Eats editor Stella Parks famous in her article on bleached cake flour.

I additionally suggest utilizing bleached, enriched all-purpose flour (reminiscent of Gold Medal or Pillsbury) for this recipe. Each achieve sufficient construction from a reasonable protein rely (10–11%) and endure a bleaching course of to additional soften the wheat, yielding a extra tender crumb. Keep away from King Arthur all-purpose flour right here, which has a better protein rely of 11.7% and might result in denser biscuits. (You possibly can learn extra concerning the varied forms of flour and their protein portions on this information to forms of flour.)

Butter vs. Shortening

Some bakers, together with Day and Delk Adams, use butter as the one supply of fats of their cathead biscuits, however loads of residence cooks I met in Alabama bake their biscuits solely with vegetable shortening, like Crisco. Every sort of fats has its benefits. Shortening consists of 100% fats and has a better melting level than butter, which helps the biscuits maintain their form and yields a crumbly, crisp, and tender crumb. Relying on type, butter can vary from 80 to 85% butterfat, with the rest being milk solids and water. That water evaporates within the oven, creating pockets of steam contained in the biscuits and leads to lighter, flakier biscuits. Butter additionally brings richness and taste that shortening lacks. 

Initially, I suspected a mix of butter and shortening may create the optimum biscuit. Butter would convey wealthy taste and lightness, whereas shortening would contribute tenderness and construction. After testing varied ratios of butter to shortening to see which might yield the fluffiest biscuits, I discovered that any amount of shortening—starting from 2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup—made the biscuits barely gummier and harder. I in the end opted to make use of simply butter, which I grate to create smaller items which can be fast to include, decreasing the possibility of meltage.

5 Suggestions for Making ready Cathead Biscuits

Preheat the pan. A way generally used within the South to make cornbread, preheating the pan maximizes browning on the perimeters and backside of the biscuits. 

Drop the batter in equal parts. Don’t fear about being neat or exact if you drop the biscuits into the new pan—the biscuits are supposed to be craggy. However dot attempt to make every biscuit about the identical measurement in order that they bake evenly. 

Use chilly butter. Because the biscuits bake, the chilly butter melts, creating pockets of steam that produce layers within the baked biscuits. In case your butter is simply too heat, it’s possible it’ll soften into the dough earlier than it’s even had the possibility to bake, leaving you with biscuits that don’t have that distinctive flakiness.  

Add a bit of sugar. Although they include a smidgeon of sugar, these biscuits usually are not discernibly candy. Granulated sugar merely seasons the dough and aids in caramelization. 

Experiment with mix-ins. With equal components sugar and salt, these biscuits can skew candy or savory. Strive folding in finely-chopped herbs, shredded cheese, chocolate chips, or dried fruit. Serve the biscuits on their very own (I like them cut up and filled with a pat of butter and honey), use as the bottom in your dream breakfast sandwich, or, for a real Southern method, smother in sausage gravy.