Go Back
–+ servings

Biscuits and Gravy

A light and tender quick bread smothered in a savory sausage gravy
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

The Biscuits:

  • 10 TBS (5oz/140g) unsalted butter - divided, cold from the fridge
  • 2 cups (10 oz/285g) all purpose (plain) flour - preferably low protein but use whatever you have on hand
  • 1 1/2 TBS baking powder
  • 1 TBS granulated sugar
  • 3/4 Tsp salt
  • 1/4 Tsp baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
  • 3/4 cup (170ml) buttermilk - cold from the fridge

The Gravy:

  • 1 1/4 lb (570g) savory sausage meat from your favorite breakfast sausage
  • 1/4 cup (35g) all purpose (plain) flour
  • 3 cups (680ml) milk
  • 1 TBS chopped fresh sage and/or thyme leaves
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
  • A light grating of nutmeg optional

Instructions

The Biscuits:

  • Pre-heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
  • Cut 8 TBS (115g) of butter into very small pieces.
    butter cut into small 14/" (6mm) pieces
  • In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking powder and then add the cold butter. Squeeze the butter pieces between your thumb and fingers to flatten them. *See note below.
  • Pour in 3/4 cup (170ml) of the cold buttermilk and stir to form a loose, crumbly dough.
  • Dump the dough on to your work surface. Notice the pieces of butter showing and not all the flour has been incorporated yet.
  • Gather the dough together to form it into a somewhat cohesive mass. If you have a bench scraper it will help make this stage easier. Otherwise, working quickly, just use your hands. It won't come together completely and will still be a little crumbly.
  • Roll the dough into a rectangle 1/2" (12mm) thick and about 11" x 7" (28 x 18cm) and use your bench scraper or the edge of your hand to even out the edges. With the long edge of the rectangle facing you, fold the right 1/3 of the dough onto itself. Then fold the left 1/3 over as you would a business letter. Roll the dough out to 1/2" (12mm) thick again and do the letter fold as before.
  • Repeat the rolling and folding once more but this time roll the dough out to 8" x 4" (20 x 10cm)" and about 1" (25mm) thick. You can see the dough has come together quite nicely after the 3rd roll and fold. Pat the dough into a neat rectangle and removing as little as possible trim the edges with a sharp knife. Trimming the edges will allow the biscuits to rise evenly and to their full height in the oven.
  • Again, using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 more or less equal pieces. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet. Gather the trimmings and form them into a loose round and set it on the baking sheet too. (That will become the baker's treat.)
  • Melt the remaining 2 TBS (25g) of butter and use it to brush the tops of the biscuits.
  • Bake for about 15 minutes until well risen and golden brown on top, rotating the pan half way through to ensure even baking.
  • Cool on a wire rack. Notice the flaky layers created by the rolling and folding (laminating) process.

While the biscuits are baking, get cracking on The Gravy:

  • Remove the meat from the sausage casings. Score the casing along its length to make this job easier.
  • Heat a 10" (26cm) non-stick skillet over medium high heat and add the sausage, breaking it up into small pieces. Cook until there is no trace of pink meat left.
  • Sprinkle the flour over the sausage and stir for a minute or two to cook off the raw flour taste. (There should be enough fat rendered from the sausages to make a roux but if it looks like there isn't, add a knob of butter or, if you have it, a tablespoon of bacon fat.)
  • Add about half the milk and whisk vigorously to incorporate the roux (the fat and flour ) and to prevent lumps. (See headnotes above on how to prevent lumpy gravy). Continue whisking as the milk heats up and the sauce begins to thicken. Add the remaining milk and keep whisking, more gently now until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes or so. Adjust the consistency of the sauce with more milk if necessary - it should be like a pancake batter. (See headnotes above on ideal gravy texture).
  • Add the herbs, a generous pinch of salt and a good sprinkling of pepper. Start with 1/2 Tsp salt (adding more if you think it needs it) and pepper to your taste. I prefer a fairly assertive pepper taste here but you can add as much as you like.
  • Finally, grate in a little of the optional nutmeg but go easy with it; nutmeg can easily overpower the dish which should have just a hint of nutmeg in the background.
  • Continue to cook a minute or two longer to allow the flavors to blend together, adjusting the seasoning as necessary and additional milk to maintain a pancake batter like consistency.
  • By now the biscuits will have baked and cooled a little. Split a biscuit on each plate and smother with the gravy. If you have any chopped herbs left over, sprinkle a little on each plate

Notes

The butter pieces need to be quite large for this preparation and therefore you don't want to rub the butter in as you would for a pie dough or a scone, for example. Instead, you will flatten the pieces between your thumb and fingers to create large flakes of flour coated butter. These will translate into flakey layers in the biscuits.
If you don't want to bother with the laminating process, rub the butter more thoroughly into the flour before adding the buttermilk. The dough will be more cohesive than the laminated dough and the resulting biscuit will be taller and more fluffy but still delicious.
You can freeze any leftover biscuits for another meal. The biscuits make a great accompaniment for soup too!