Equipment
Ingredients
Buttermilk Biscuits
- 360 g all-purpose flour
- 15 g baking powder
- 3 g baking soda
- 6 g fine sea salt
- 115 g unsalted butter, frozen solid
- 240 ml whole buttermilk, ice cold
Sausage Gravy
- 450 g ground pork breakfast sausage
- 45 g all-purpose flour
- 700 ml whole milk, room temperature
- 4 g coarse black pepper
- fine sea salt
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 727 kcal
- Protein
- 26 g
- Carbohydrates
- 62 g
- Fat
- 42 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sugar
- 9 g
- Sodium
- 1363 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 19 g
- Trans Fat
- 0 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 14 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 5 g
- Cholesterol
- 122 mg
- Potassium
- 803 mg
- Calcium
- 311 mg
- Iron
- 2.0 mg
- Magnesium
- 45 mg
- Phosphorus
- 494 mg
- Zinc
- 2.9 mg
- Vitamin A
- 225 mcg
- Vitamin D
- 3.1 mcg
- Vitamin E
- 1.3 mg
- Vitamin K
- 3 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.2 mg
- Vitamin B12
- 1.5 mcg
- Thiamin
- 0.36 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.44 mg
- Niacin
- 5.6 mg
- Folate
- 27 mcg
- Water
- 187 g
Sources: USDA FoodData Central
Method
Preheat your oven to 220 C/425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly distributed.
Using a box grater, grate the frozen unsalted butter directly into the dry ingredients. Toss the mixture gently with your fingers to coat the butter shreds in flour, ensuring they do not clump together.
Create a well in the center and pour in the ice cold buttermilk. Stir gently with a wooden spoon or spatula just until the dough begins to pull together into a shaggy mass.
Turn the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently press it into a rough rectangle. Fold it in thirds like a letter, turn 90 degrees, and press it out again. Repeat this folding process 2 more times to create laminated layers. Finally, press or roll the dough to a 2.5 cm/1 inch thickness. Cut out biscuits using a floured biscuit cutter, pressing straight down without twisting.
Place biscuits on the prepared baking sheet so their edges are just touching. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the tops are deeply golden brown.
While the biscuits bake, heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground pork sausage, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon. Cook until thoroughly browned, no pink remains, and the internal temperature of the largest pieces reaches 74 C/165 F. Do not drain the fat.
Sprinkle the flour evenly over the browned sausage and rendered fat. Stir constantly for 2 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. The mixture will look pasty.
Gradually whisk in the whole milk, about 100ml at a time, ensuring each addition is fully incorporated to prevent lumps. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, stirring frequently, until the gravy thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the coarse black pepper and taste before adding salt, as sausage sodium levels vary wildly.
Split the warm, freshly baked biscuits in half horizontally. Plate them open-faced and ladle a generous amount of hot sausage gravy over the top. Serve immediately.
Chef's Notes
- The secret to a robust sausage gravy is allowing the meat to deeply caramelize in the pan before adding flour. Those brown bits (fond) provide the backbone of the flavor.
- Baking biscuits with their sides touching forces them to rise upward rather than spreading outward, resulting in a taller, fluffier crumb.
- Always use whole milk for gravy. Lower fat milks lack the necessary fat and protein structure, leading to a watery sauce that breaks easily.
- If your sausage is very lean and does not render at least 3 to 4 tablespoons of fat, add a tablespoon of butter to the pan before whisking in the flour to ensure a proper roux forms.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 days — Store biscuits and gravy in separate airtight containers.
Freezer: 2 months — Unbaked biscuits freeze exceptionally well. Gravy can be frozen but may require whisking with a splash of milk upon reheating to restore emulsion.
Reheating: Reheat gravy gently on the stovetop over low heat, adding milk to thin if necessary. Warm biscuits in a 175 C oven for 5 minutes.
Troubleshooting
Biscuits are dense and did not rise
Cause: Butter melted before baking or dough was overworked
Fix: Cannot be fixed
Prevention: Keep butter frozen, handle dough lightly, and chill shaped biscuits for 10 minutes before baking if kitchen is hot
Gravy is lumpy
Cause: Milk was added too quickly or flour was not properly mixed into the fat
Fix: Vigorously whisk the gravy over heat, or in extreme cases, pass through a mesh strainer, though this removes sausage pieces
Prevention: Whisk milk in gradually and ensure flour cooks into the fat evenly
Gravy is too thick or pasty
Cause: Too much moisture evaporated during simmering
Fix: Whisk in additional milk, 20ml at a time, until desired consistency is reached
Prevention: Simmer gently over medium-low heat rather than a rapid boil
Cultural Context
Biscuits and gravy originated in the Southern Appalachian region of the United States following the American Revolutionary War. It emerged as a caloric, inexpensive, and satisfying breakfast for timber workers and farmers. Using rendered pork fat and simple pantry staples like flour and milk allowed laborers to start the day with a deeply sustaining meal that utilized every part of the hog.
