Cat Head Biscuits

      I haven't posted in a few days because this week has been a string of dutch oven cooking disasters, brownies that were raw in the middle, sudden downpours and a blackened cake.  Today the Dutch Oven Gods were smiling upon me, I was overjoyed to have made these wonderful Cat Head Biscuits from the PBS cooking show Cook's Country.  They were a smashing success and second only to the Touch of Grace Biscuits as my all time favorite biscuits.  What makes them so spectacular, apart from their huge size, is the addition of cake flour in the dough.  For those of you who aren't lucky enough to find White Lily soft winter wheat flour where you live, mixing cake flour with regular flour makes for a lighter and fluffier biscuit.  If you live in the South, by all means make them with 3 cups of White Lily.  I almost always cut iced cold butter into my biscuit flour but for some reason these are more tender when the butter is softened and mixed in by hand.  Be sure to bake them in your 10 inch dutch oven, they need to be snuggled closely together.  The original recipe calls for making them in a 9 inch round cake pan.  I started them with 10 coals in a ring around the bottom and the lid completely covered with coals.  After 15 minutes I removed the center coals and baked them for 5 minutes more with only one ring of briquettes around the outside of the lid. Be careful when you remove the lid of your oven, these lighter than air biscuits might just float away.

Cat Head Biscuits
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 Tblsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
8 Tblsp (one stick) butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces and softened
4 Tblsp shortening cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

     Lightly oil or spray 10 inch dutch oven.
     Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
     Rub in butter and shortening with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal.
     Add buttermilk, stir until just combined, do not overwork dough.
     Using a 1/2 cup measure or large spoon, transfer 6 heaping portions of dough into prepared dutch oven, placing 5 biscuits around the outside and one in the center.
     Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden.
     Check biscuits after 15 minutes to make sure they aren't browning too quickly.
     Cool in dutch oven for 10 minutes before serving warm.
     Makes 6 large biscuits.

Scoop 6 large portions of dough into well oiled oven

Bake at 425 minutes for 20 minutes or until puffed and golden

Lighter than air biscuits the size of a cat's head