I Fell in Love With Loveless Buttermilk Biscuits (a true story)
/I spent a week in Nashville, Tennessee.
An entire, glorious week of playing and relaxing and eating. And I kind of fell in love. With the town, with the people, with the music, and (mostly) with the food.
My friend, Carrie of Tiki Tiki Blog fame was my lovely host and tour guide.
Did you know there's a perfect replica of the Parthenon in Nashville? (That's right, Percy Jackson fans. It's kind of magical.)
I have so many wonderful stories and highlights from my trip, but today I want to talk about the beauty that is... Fresh. Hot. Biscuits.
Biscuits. Hot biscuits. Freshly-pulled-from-the-oven. Hot, melt-in-your-mouth, good-ole-down-home, I-must-have-died-and-gone-straight-to-Heaven biscuits.
These beautiful creatures were to be found at the famous Loveless Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee.
To be fair, pretty much everything served there was amazing and full of down-home goodness. With it's iconic walls covered with autographed photos of their famous clientele and that dessert case silently beckoning, "Y'all just gotta have pie!" I was hooked.
Nashville was beautiful and my time there was delightful, and I will continue to sing the praises of the treasure to be found there, but the biscuits..... *sigh*
When I got home the first thing I wanted to do was to re-create the magic of the most gorgeous mouth-watering delicacies I had ever tasted.
I picked up a fabulous cookbook while I was there called The Desserts from the Loveless Cafe by Alisa Huntsman. There are dozens of recipes for Southern puddings, pies, cakes, and cobblers. But I confess I bought the book for the Biscuit Recipe. (I know. Shut up.)
In fact, my goal for this year is to master the art of biscuit making. (Who am I?)
And because I'm a giver, here's the recipe for Loveless Buttermilk Biscuits that is my ticket to being a Biscuit-Making Fool:
Loveless Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 stick (4 oz.) plus 2 Tbsp. unsalted cold butter, cut into cubes
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a sturdy baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and butter in a food processor. Pulse until the butter is cut into small pieces no larger than the size of peas. Pour in the buttermilk and pulse just enought to make smooth dough.
- Scrape the dough out onto a floured surface. Using your hands, pat into a 1/2-inch-thick slab. Cut out the biscuits using a 3-inch round cutter and place them on the lined baking sheet; rework the scraps once to make more biscuits.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm with butter and jelly.
Maybe it was the magic spell of the accompanying Southern hospitality. Maybe it was being in this legendary place. Maybe it's the beautiful lilting drawl that accompanied the "Y'all come back now."
Or maybe it was just that those biscuits were truly the best in the world. Thanks, Loveless. I am forever yours. ;-)
