September, National Biscuit Month, cannot pass without me trying a new biscuit recipe or revisiting an old favorite. I’ll use any excuse to make biscuits.
Pondering all the possibilities for this year (in biscuits and other things), I remembered a unique biscuit take presented at the cafeteria where I work. The resident baker is a wonder…she makes all manner of amazing things, from cakes to breads (including cinnamon rolls and bagels), scones, cookies and so many treats. One day I was notified that an “apple butter swim biscuit” was on the menu, and I quickly abandoned my desk to check it out. Apple butter was woven through a soft, fluffy, buttery biscuit. Oh my!
But just as excited as I was to be eating this treat, I was intrigued by the name. In all my years of encountering the many kinds of biscuits that exist — beaten, angel, drop, cathead, buttermilk, whole wheat and more — I had never heard of a swim biscuit. It sounded strange and completely natural at once. What I discovered, upon searching a little around the Internet, is that biscuits that swim generally do so in butter, baked in a bath of the stuff.
The butter in a swim biscuit is generally on the outside, but seeps it’s way inside. If you can ponder this more than a second, you should already be sold, as I was. The day I decided to make swim biscuits, I chose a recipe that was for a straightforward buttermilk swim biscuit (no apple butter this time), and it began with melting butter in a microwave-safe square baking dish.
A whole stick of butter created a melting pool that covered the dish completely, and I set to work with the very simple rest of the recipe.
The dry ingredients — flour, sugar, baking powder and salt — are whisked together first.
Into the dry ingredients goes buttermilk to form a very soft, batter-y type of dough.
The dough is spread evenly in the sea of butter in the pan, and noticeably begins to absorb it right away, too. Then, using a bench scraper, the dough is cut into 9 portions.
I wondered if the dough partitions would hold their shape during baking, as the dough was rather moist.
They did hold their shape! The dough biscuits raised and separated and soaked up the butter.
But plenty of butter bubbled up and around the biscuits, too, adding a saucy element in which those biscuits could swim.
They were beautifully golden, and cut and lifted from the pan quite willingly. So light and fluffy and beautifully buttery, with crusty edges also juicy from all that melted fat.
I felt indulged. All that butter would need to warrant a special occasion. But biscuits are a special occasion. And it’s good to know there are still some biscuit discoveries to make.
Buttermilk Butter Swim Biscuits
Adapted from allrecipes.com
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups buttermilk
Heat oven to 450°. Place butter ina glass or ceramic 8-inch baking dish. MIcrowave for one minutes. Stir and continue to melt in 15-second intervals until completely melted.
Whisk together dry ingredients. Stir in buttermilk until combined (this makes a soft dough).
Spread dough evenly over the melted butter in the pan. Using a bench scraper or knife, cut the dough into 9 equal squares.
Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. To serve, recut biscuit squares as needed. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Makes 9 biscuits.