Best Buttermilk Biscuits + A Breakfast Sandwich

Today, I’m going to make you a breakfast sandwich because I think we all deserve one. For one, it’s Friday. We’ve made it through an entire week. You’d think that us working people would eventually become accustomed to 5-day, 40-hour workweeks, but each week never ceases to seem like "the longest ever". Really, they're exhausting!

Also, I guess it actually is fall now (oh-no-no-no). I’ve unpacked some of cool weather clothing and have reintroduced scarves back into my wardrobe. Honestly, fall hasn’t been really been too different from late summer yet. I’m sure the midday briskness is coming; and when it does, we’ll have breakfast sandwiches to comfort us! I love breakfast sandwiches any day of the year, but I especially love them in the fall and winter. Things like butter and bacon are reasons for me to get up in the morning and also help me (on a good day) to disregard the frost on my windshield.

To start this breakfast sandwich, we need the perfect biscuit. These "perfect" biscuits were an ignorant lie, having been the first one I ever made. (Sorry 'bout that!) And then these better buttermilk biscuits from a few years ago: They're good, but not good enough. The recipe I give you now is what I’ve been using since last year, and is truly “the one”. What makes it special to me is the Virginia self-rising flour I use. I recommend you use local flour, because isn’t that just cool? What really makes this biscuit special in general is the use of an egg with the buttermilk. The rest of the ingredients are standard, but the egg keeps the biscuits soft, yet sturdy. There’s also egg wash involved, which isn’t necessary but really makes them sparkle!

Once you have the biscuits made. You can make the sandwich insides: roasted tomatoes, bacon, egg, and fancy cheese. I chose asiago, but parmesan or gruyere are good choices too. I feel like putting this together is too simple for a formal recipe, so here's my method in conversational format...

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. While it preheats, prepare a large baking sheet with foil. I create two little foil "trays" that each take up half the baking sheet: one for bacon and one for tomatoes. Lay out the bacon, lay out slices of tomato with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, and pop it in the oven for about 15 minute to get the bacon really crispy and the tomatoes roasty. Remove them both from the tray and set aside (place the bacon on paper towels to drain the grease). Cut your cheese, scramble and cook your egg(s), then layer them on your wonderful fresh biscuit. I like to salt and pepper the egg and tomato one more time when I layer them on the sandwich.

Eat it hovering it over the sink, or wrap it in wax paper to take it to the office and make co-workers jealous. Just make sure to enjoy it :)

Happy weekend, y'all!

"Best" Buttermilk Biscuits

Servings: 8 biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour

1 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cold
1/2 cup buttermilk (regular or lowfat), cold
1 egg, cold
Egg Wash: 1 egg whisked together with 1 tablespoon water or milk

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. There are two ways to cut the butter into the dry ingredients: Using a box cheese grater or a food processor. 
• If you are going to use a cheese grater, add flour and salt to a large bowl. Grate half of the butter on a small cutting board or plate. Toss the butter with the flour to mix it up some; then continue grating butter until it's all been grated and tossed into the flour. Place bowl in freezer for 5-10 minutes to let it get cold again.
• If you are using a food processor, add flour and salt to processor bowl. Cut up butter into ½-1 tablespoons pads and toss over flour. Pulse mixture about 4 times. Remove bowl from processor, shake flour down from sides and take note of how big the clumps of butter are. You want them about the size of large peas. Return bowl to processor and pulse a few more times to achieve that size. (Note: The butter will further breakdown when you pulse in the wet ingredients in the next step.) Then place bowl in freezer for 5-10 minutes.
• Whisk buttermilk and egg in a small bowl; whisk until combined. In a small bowl, make the egg wash, whisking together the egg and water or milk. Transfer both to the refrigerator.
• Grab the bowl out of the freezer. If you used the cheese grater, gently break up the butter and combine with the flour, using your hands, until it resembles small peas. Remove buttermilk mixture from fridge and add it all at once to the flour mixture. Mix until barely combined with either a wooden spoon. If you are using a food processor, add buttermilk mixture to processor bowl and pulse 4-5 times. Sprinkle a large cutting board or your kitchen counter with flour and dump the loose dough onto it. It’s ok if it’s not completely combined when you dump it.
• Lightly press the dough into one solid square mass. Very lightly flour the top of it and fold in half; flour-and-fold 3-4 more times. (All this folding will help make layers!) Dough should now be in a square/rectangle and at a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut out the biscuits using a biscuit cutter, pizza cutter, or knife. Depending on if you cut them circle or square, you can recombine the scraps and get a few more biscuits. Transfer them to the baking sheet.
• Stick the baking sheet in the freezer for 5 minutes (or overnight!) to get the bits of butter cold again. Remove from freezer, brush the tops of with egg wash, and bake for 10-15 minutes, until tall and medium golden brown. (Note: It'll take longer if biscuits are completely frozen.) Allow biscuits to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, and then move to a rack finish cooling.

Notes: Recipe slightly adapted from A Cozy Kitchen. For a quick and easy breakfast or side, biscuits can be frozen prior to baking or after they been baked and have cooled completely.