Recipe: Baking Powder Biscuits

Baking Powder Biscuits
Recipe courtesy Gourmet Magazine
Yield: 16 to 24 biscuits

2 cups cake flour (not self-rising) or all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
2/3 cup heavy cream
Accompaniment: butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Into a large bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut butter into bits and with your fingertips or a pastry blender blend butter into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk and heavy cream, stirring with a wooden spoon until just combined (mixture will be wet).
Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and with floured hands turn dough to coat evenly. Knead dough gently 4 to 6 times, or just until smooth (do not overwork dough). Pat or roll out dough into an 8-inch round (slightly more than 1/2-inch thick).

Using a floured 2 to 2 1/2-inch star-shaped or round cutter cut out biscuits and arrange about 1-inch apart on baking sheets. Gently pat out or roll out dough scraps and cut out more biscuits in same manner.

Bake biscuits, 1 sheet at a time, in middle of oven until pale golden and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer biscuits as baked to a basket lined with a cloth and cover with cloth to keep warm and moist.

Serve biscuits with butter.