RECIPE: Make Ria’s Bluebird’s Buttermilk Biscuits
Ria’s buttermilk biscuits are tall, fluffy and incredibly delicious. I have been trying to mimic that biscuit for years! I would appreciate it if you would put me out of my misery and obtain the recipe. Thank you so much in advance. — Carolyn Fludd, Tyrone
Chef-partner Stephen Gannon shared the recipe, but also said that the easiest way to reproduce the high-rising biscuits from Ria’s Bluebird is to buy the mix they sell at the restaurant. Everything is prepared for you. All you need to add is buttermilk.
At the restaurant, they start each batch with 5 pounds of self-rising flour to make 48 biscuits at a time. We cut it down to a recipe that makes 12.
In our photo, the biscuits are served with butter and the restaurant’s house-made strawberry jam.
- 5 cups self-rising flour, plus more to flour work surface
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Heaping 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, or as needed
- Heat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Whisk together flour, sugar, salt and baking soda. Add shortening and use hands to blend shortening with flour mixture until the shortening forms pea-sized balls. Add buttermilk, mixing with hands to form the dough. Add more buttermilk if needed. You want a soft, but not sticky dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface. Knead lightly until it forms a mass. Pat it out into a 12-by-9-inch rectangle. Cut the dough into 12 3-by-3-inch squares and arrange squares on prepared baking sheet. (Alternatively, pat the dough into a rectangle on the prepared baking sheet and cut it into 12 pieces directly on the sheet. Leaving the biscuits in the rectangle will help them rise a bit higher and produce biscuits with soft sides where they touch each other.) Brush tops of biscuits with the melted butter. Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Makes 12.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per biscuit: 302 calories (percent of calories from fat, 34), 6 grams protein, 44 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 11 grams total fat (3 grams saturated), 6 milligrams cholesterol, 846 milligrams sodium.From the menu of...Ria’s Bluebird, 421 Memorial Drive SE, Atlanta. 404-521-3737, riasbluebird.com.
Is there a recipe from a metro Atlanta restaurant you’d like to make at home? Tell us and we’ll try to get it. We’ll also test it and adapt it for the home kitchen. Because of volume, we can’t answer all inquiries. Send your request, your address and phone number to fromthemenu@gmail.com and put “From the menu of” and the name of the restaurant in the subject line.
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