Cathead Biscuits Lodge Cast Iron Recipes

CATHEAD BISCUITS | LODGE CAST IRON

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease two 12-inch cast iron skillets and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together. Add the lard and cut it in with a pastry cutter or rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture is just crumbly. Gradually stir in just enough buttermilk to form a soft ball of dough.
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, knead about 8 times, then shape by hand into biscuits about 3 ½ inches across and 1 inch high.
• Arrange the biscuits fairly close together in the prepared skillets and bake in the upper third of the oven until golden brown and craggy on the outsides, about 17 minutes.

CATHEAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. (You can also bake the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet.)
• In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk and mix until just barely combined. It will be a shaggy mass. (Alternatively, you can mix the dough in a food processor: Pulse to combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Pour in buttermilk through feed tube and pulse until just barely combined.)
• Turn shaggy mass out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly, using the heel of your hand to compress and push dough away from you, then fold it back over itself. Give dough a small turn and repeat four or five times. (You want to just barely activate the gluten, not overwork it.)
• Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out dough 1 inch thick. Using a 3 1/2-inch round cutter dipped in flour, cut out rounds (press cutter straight down without twisting so biscuits will rise evenly when baked).
• Place biscuits on prepared sheet. (If biscuits are baked close together, sides will be tender. If biscuits are baked farther apart, sides will be crisp.)
• Reroll scraps once. Do not simply roll them into a ball; this will create a knot of gluten strands. Instead, place the pieces one on top of the other in layers, then roll out dough and cut out more rounds.
• Bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool just slightly. Serve warm.

CATHEAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Combine 2 cups of the flour with the baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening and 3 tablespoons of the butter until the mixture is the size of small peas.
• Add the buttermilk, and stir until the dough is just mixed and starts to form a ball.
• Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Sprinkle a work surface with flour. Transfer the dough to the floured surface, and sprinkle with a little extra flour. Knead the dough 3 to 4 times. Do not overwork the dough. It will make the dough tough and difficult to work with.
• Flatten the dough into a 3/4- to 1-inch-thick disk with a rolling pin. Cut out biscuits with a large 4- or 5-inch biscuit cutter.
• Bake the biscuits until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
• Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Brush the hot biscuits with the butter. Turn on the broiler. Broil the biscuits until desired brownness.

CAST IRON BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place 1 tablespoon butter in two 10-inch cast iron skillets.
• Place skillets in the preheated oven to heat up and melt butter, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Mix buttermilk and eggs together in a small bowl.
• Combine flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt in a large bowl. Rub in remaining 6 tablespoons butter with your fingers until mixture is crumbly. Gently stir in buttermilk mixture until dough just starts to come together.
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 24 biscuits.
• Remove skillets from the oven. Arrange 12 biscuits side-by-side in each, their edges touching.
• Return skillets to the oven and bake until biscuits are puffed and lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.

CATHEAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch cake pan.
• Sift flour and salt together into a large mixing bowl. Make a dent in flour by pushing flour from center toward sides of bowl. Add 2 walnut-size lumps of shortening and a splash of buttermilk to the flour where you made the dent. Work the shortening into the flour using fingers in a twisting motion (rub thumb against pointer and middle finger motion) until the shortening is fully incorporated into the flour.
• Pour buttermilk into the flour about 1/4 cup at a time, continuing to work it in with your fingers until the buttermilk is completely incorporated into a sticky dough.
• Roll dough into 8 large balls and drop into prepared cake pan, working around the outside and putting the last one in middle to fill the pan. Press dough balls with back of fingers to flatten until they touch and are about 3/4- to 1-inch thick.
• Bake in preheated oven until the tops are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Brush tops with melted butter.