Homemade Biscuits and Gravy!
My first paid job was as a gate girl at Plum Aqua Swim Club (which no longer exists). I was in eighth grade and my math teacher asked my mother (who was a cafeteria worker at my school, lol) if I could work the summer. All that was required of me was to sit at the gate, collect members cards, read books and work on my tan. A dream job really! The year was 1979 and I was happy to make some of my own money–$1.25/hour! My dad had other opinions and often said that it cost more in gas money to drive me there than I made in a day’s work. Ok–he was right! Still, I liked earning my own money!
So you may be wondering, what does this have to do with Biscuits and Gravy? Well, my second job was at Hardee’s Fast Food restaurant. Minimum wage was $2.83/hour and I was promoted (lol, with no raise) to biscuit maker on weekends, starting at 5 AM making the biscuits; there is where this journey began!
We made the biscuits from scratch. No premade, frozen biscuits. I wasn’t good at it at first. I didn’t make fluffy, high-rising biscuits, but I learned! I certainly learned a life skill at that job and enjoy making biscuits regularly. I must say my family enjoys it too!
Sunday Funday starts with homemade Biscuits and Gravy every week, with very few exceptions. Tom and I get up pretty early and enjoy our breakfast but I always make a big batch because most Sundays, some of our adult children arrive later to watch sports and eat the rest!
These are recipes special to our family so I would like to share them with you!
You will need:
- All-Purpose Flour
- Cake Flour
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Cream of Tartar
- Sugar
- Salted Butter
- Milk+Vinegar or Buttermilk
- 1 Pound of Breakfast Sausage (Hot or mild, your preference)
- Ground Sage
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Thyme
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt
- Black Pepper
Kitchen Tools:
- Liquid measuring cup for two cups
- One-cup measurement for dry ingrediants
- Measuring Spoons
- Box or Flat-Plane grater
- Pastry cutter/blender
- Medium-sized biscuit or cookie cutter
- Flat scraper
- High-sided pan
- Parchment paper
Fluffy Multi-layer Homemade Biscuits
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 2 sticks salted butter, 2/3 of each stick grated, remaining melted for brushing
- 1 1/2 cup milk (I use 2%) plus 1 Tbsp white vinegar (or 1 1/2 buttermilk)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grate butter and put it in the freezer until ready to use. Put the remaining butter in a microwave safe cup to melt. Reserve for brushing.
Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl.
Bring cold butter from freezer and incorporate into dry mixture using a pastry cutter/blender or two knives.
Add the milk/vinegar or buttermilk to the bowl and stir in.
Once the mixture comes together, use your hands to turn it onto a floured surface. Do about 10-12 envelope folds to prepare the dough for cutting. (Fold the dough in from left and right side to center, then from top to bottom to center–this is an envelope fold).
No need to use a rolling pin; pat the dough into a rectangular shape about an inch high to cut with desired size of biscuit cutter.
Flour the biscuit cutter very well and push, but don’t turn, the cutter into the dough. Pull straight up and shake a little to release the biscuit. Place on parchment covered pan, making sure the biscuits are touching to help them rise. See picture below.
Refrigerate for 10 to 15 minutes and then brush with melted butter before putting tray in the oven.
Bake for about 20 minutes, then pull pan out from oven and use a butter knife to move biscuits away from one another. Return to oven for about 10 more minutes, until biscuits are lightly browned.
Remove from oven and brush with reserved butter again.
Makes 8-9 biscuits, depending on the size of your biscuit cutter.
Can’t have Biscuits without Gravy!!!
The BEST Spicy Sausage Gravy
- 1 lb of hot breakfast sausage (substitute with regular breakfast sausage if spicy isn’t your thing!)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp ground sage
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (reduce to 1/2 tsp for not so spicy)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground black pepper (reduce to 1 tsp for not so spicy)
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 2 Tbsp salted butter
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour
- 5 cups of milk
Brown sausage over medium heat, adding spices while browning. Do not drain sausage; melt the butter into the sausage mixture. Once butter is melted, add 1/4 cup of flour and stir in to coat meat. If the mixture is still wet, add more flour until the meat mixture is coated with the flour. Add the milk, stir and cover the pan. Check the sausage gravy, stirring periodically. As the gravy gets hotter and bubbles, the gravy will thicken; it will take about 15 minutes.
Serves 4-6. Any leftovers can be refrigerated.
Now it is time to dig into your Sunday Biscuits and Gravy breakfast! Enjoy!