Masa harina biscuits
Many, if not all, of my previous attempts at biscuit-making left me wanting. And annoyed. Whether I was grating the butter into the dry ingredients, my warm hand basically melting the butter as I grated, or using a pastry cutter that I always felt just got in my way, my biscuits usually ended up too tough. That is, until I learned about the fraisage method.
The fraisage method (hilariously sometimes also known as “Frasier dough”) is a process for smearing cold butter into dry ingredients with the heel of your palm to create sheets of butter. To best achieve this, you dump the dry ingredients out from the bowl onto your work surface. The task can be somewhat messy and less contained than if we had kept our ingredients in a bowl, however the results are worth it to me and hopefully to you. You spend little time on the butter itself. Just press down and out to smear the butter into the flour, using your work surface to help create those sheets of butter and move on to the next steps in the recipe. Maximum efficiency!
After smearing the butter, we then cut it further into the flour (and bit of sugar and salt) with a bench scraper. If you don’t have one, use your sturdiest metal spatula. The goal is to take some of those sheets of butter and cut them so that you have some larger and smaller sheets of butter throughout your dry ingredients. From here, the recipe is pretty standard for biscuits: pour in the buttermilk about a third at a time and stir the ingredients until you have a shaggy dough that holds together when you press it gently in your hands. Then we pat down and stack the dough into a roughly 7-inch x 4-inch square with about 1-inch thickness to create even more layers. I pat and stack about 2 times; which seems to me to be the sweet spot before we risk overworking the dough.
A 3-inch cutter will give you about 6 biscuits. You can cut out about 3 biscuits from this dough at a time before having to press down and stack just once more. Add some fresh herbs to your dough or just to the tops right after brushing with a little heavy cream (or melted butter) for a savory biscuit. Here, I opted for just a sprinkling of turbinado sugar for a little crunch and sweetness. We ate these just straight up, smeared with more butter. The masa harina in here, just like the last biscuit recipe I shared last year (made, rather unfortunately, with a food processor. I’ve grown since then, ok!) gives biscuits the same flavor of a warm tortilla spread with butter. One of my favorite snacks from childhood in biscuit form.
Masa Harina Biscuits
Yield: about 6 biscuits
240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
75 grams (½ cup) masa harina
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
115 grams (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
200 grams (about 1 cup) cold buttermilk
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, optional
Make the biscuits:
Add the all-purpose flour, masa harina, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt to a large mixing bowl. Toss with your fingers to combine.
Slice the butter in half length-wise using either your favorite chef’s knife or a bench scraper. Then, slice the butter into large pieces. Don’t worry about uniformity in the butter slices.
Drop the butter into the dry ingredients and toss to coat in the flour.
Fraisage method:
Dump the entire contents of the bowl onto your work surface now. Working with one piece of butter at a time, use the heel of your palm to press firmly down and then out into the surrounding flour to create smeared sheets of butter. Continue with the remaining butter, being mindful to not spend too much time on any one piece.
Once all the butter has been pushed down and out into sheets, use a bench scraper or something like a firm metal spatula to cut the butter into the flour further. Gather the flour with the bench scraper and cut, gather and cut. You’re going for a mix of smaller and larger sheets of butter.
Add the buttermilk:
Pour in the buttermilk now, about a third at a time. Using either your hands or a rubber spatula, stir the buttermilk into the rest of the ingredients just until a shaggy dough that holds together when pressed in your hand forms.
Cut the dough in half and then stack the half on top of the other half. Press down to flatten the dough, then cut in half once more. Repeat this step 2 times to create layers.
Cut out biscuits:
Using a 3-inch biscuit or cookie cutter, cut out as many biscuits as you can. Be mindful to cut straight down, and don’t twist the cutter which would seal the biscuit and prevent it from rising very tall. You will need to gather, stack and press down on the dough once more to get about 6 biscuits.
Place the biscuits close together so they’re touching on a small baking sheet lined with parchment.
Chill biscuits for about 20 minutes in your fridge. Use this time to clean up or take a break, and preheat your oven to 450F.
Bake biscuits:
After 20 minutes, brush a little heavy cream on each biscuit; sprinkle the tops with the turbinado sugar, if using. Bake biscuits for 20-22 minutes, or until very beautifully golden brown on the tops, sides and bottoms.
Let biscuits cool just slightly before slathering in butter.
Store biscuits in an airtight container for about two days at room temperature, or up to 5 days in your fridge.