Mississippi Delta Cathead Biscuits Recipes

SANDY'S MISSISSIPPI DELTA CATHEAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Blend above ingredients in a mixing bowl.
• Dump a hand full of flour on a pastry cloth or whatever.
• A brown paper sack also works.
• Newspaper also works just fine.
• Dump the blended dough onto the flour.
• Pour a dash of oil into your skillet and smear it around with your fingers.
• Coat the inside of the skillet and the palms of your hands with oil.
• Knead the dough for about 30 seconds, rolling it in the flour and thickening it.
• Halve the dough.
• Halve it again, making 4 pieces of dough.
• Roll each piece of dough between your hands, making it into a ball, then put it in the skillet.
• Use a spoon or a pastry brush and put a little oil or bacon drippings on the top of each unbaked biscuit.
• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Bake 25 minutes.
• Broil/toast for 1 or 2 minutes.

SOUTHERN "CATHEAD" BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F
• Measure 1 cup of buttermilk into liquid measuring cup. I use 3/4 cup whole milk with a splash of Heinz White Vinegar. Let sit a few minutes until you need it.
• In a medium bowl, measure the flour by spooning it into a one-cup measure and leveling off with a knife. (This is very important!) Sometimes I sift it. Most of the time I do not.
• Make a deep well and add the oil and buttermilk.
• Stir gently until moistened. Sprinkle with even flour to allow handling of the dough.
• I shape my biscuits by hand but you could also roll them out and cut them. Place them in a 9x9 Pampered Chef Baker (stoneware.) I have used Pampered Chef stoneware for the last ten years and it has never failed me. However, for those of you still using metal bakeware, just use a regular square baking pan.

CATHEAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Mix dry ingredients and sift into mixing bowl, then cut in lard or crisco until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
• Stir in buttermilk until it is incorporated with the flour mixture. The dough will be kind of wet and very sticky.
• Flour your hands and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough in the flour just enough to make it handleable - you don't want it to stick to your hands too much, but don't work in too much extra flour either or the biscuits will be heavy and taste of raw flour.
• For each biscuit, pinch off a piece of dough about the size of a large egg or a small lemon and pat out in the ungreased pan with your hands. You don't want it to be really flat, just pat it down a bit so it's relatively biscuit-shaped and about 1 inch high.
• Bake at 475 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Keep your eye on them while they're in the oven so they don't burn.
• Brush tops of biscuits with melted butter, if desired.