We begin with bread — a symbol of nourishment in many senses of the word.

As Gandhi said, “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”

We choose the biscuit for its place where we work, Nashville, and the biscuit as a workhorse of a bread sustaining so many throughout the years. (Flour was our city's number one export in the late 1800s giving us flour brands that endure today like Martha White and White Lily, which donates to our kitchens in bulk).

With this recipe, we also nod too to our friends at Biscuit Love, Karl & Sarah Worley, who led last year's Nourish and generously donate in many ways their time, talents and even their cookbook collection!

This particular recipe is a favorite of our resident baker, Meg Schmalandt, sous coordinator at the California Kitchen. Preferences in biscuits often differ in the type of fat they include. Culinary legend Edna Lewis preferred lard, for example, while hometown food hero Carla Hall suggests butter and shortening. We’ve adapted this recipe from Joy the Baker, which includes the more unusual addition of an egg adding lift to the dough, and we’ve included Hall’s tip by including a blend of butter and shortening.

Bake these biscuits on their own or use them to top next week’s recipe: Chicken Cobbler, a take on chicken pot pie, which has been a favorite in The Nashville Food Project’s kitchens over the years for its versatility in making use of fresh vegetables on hand.

Buttermilk Biscuits

makes about 12 biscuits

ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold salted butter, cut into small cubes, plus 2 tablespoons melted to brush the biscuits
1/4 cup cold shortening, cut into small cubes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup cold buttermilk

Directions

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine egg and buttermilk and beat lightly with a fork. Set aside in refrigerator until ready to use.

Using your fingers, quickly work the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients until some bits of butter and shortening are the size of oat flakes, some the size of small peas. Chunks of fat is what we want in our dough.

Create a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the egg mixture all at once. Stir into a shaggy mixture. The dough will be moist, but not overly wet.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and use a floured rolling pin to gently roll the dough into a into a 1-inch thick oval. At the short end of the dough closest to you, fold the dough over until the edge of the dough meets the center of the dough. Fold the top edge of the dough towards the center over the first fold. Gently roll the dough into a 1-inch oval and repeat the folding process again.

After the second fold, again roll the dough out to a 1-inch thickness and use a 2-inch round biscuit cutter to cut biscuits. Press any dough scraps together to make a few more biscuits out of the remaining dough.

Place 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet and brush lightly with melted butter.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve warm with extra butter.

Recipe adapted from JoytheBaker.com.

This recipe is a part of our menu for our upcoming live dinner party, a part of our Nourishing our Community presented by Kroger Zero Hunger Zero Waste campaign.

We hope you can cook up your version and join us for dinner on Thursday, July 2nd!