Miso Buttermilk Biscuits

 I don’t remember the very first time having biscuits. All I know is I have always loved them. When they are well made and freshly out of the oven, they are little doughs of heaven. The inside is soft, buttery and warm and the outside is a little flaky and crispy. There are savory ones and sweet ones, you can eat them with honey, butter, jam, deli meats, I mean really anything you like!
I used to go around L.A. hunting down good biscuits and have gone to restaurants just for that. Eventually I decided to make them at home. However most recipes never worked, they always came out too dry, or not fluffy enough, or it was boring tasting. So I bitterly gave up and summed it up to “making good biscuits is borderline impossible for home cooks!” Though I never truly believed in it. When I bought Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz, I thought the first thing I’ll make is going to be a cake or a pie. But life never turns out the way we plan it. I ended up making her miso buttermilk biscuits as my first item. To say this recipe is genius is an understatement. I know I have not become a better biscuit maker, yet they turned out fluffy, flavor, flaky, crispy. Basically all the elements you could possibly want from a delicious biscuit. (also how many “biscuits” have I written so far?!)

makes 16 biscuits

½ cup sweet white miso (4.8 oz / 136g)
1¼ cups buttermilk (10.6 oz / 300g), chilled
3¼ cups all-purpose flour (15 oz / 423g), plus more for rolling out
1 tablespoon baking powder (0.42 oz / 12g)
1 tablespoon sugar (0.46 oz / 13g)
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter (8 oz / 227g), cut into ½-inch pieces, chilled, plus 2 tablespoons (1 oz / 28g), melted, for brushing
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven and prepare the baking sheet: Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix the miso and buttermilk: Place the miso in the bottom of a medium bowl and pour in a couple of tablespoons of the buttermilk. Mash with a fork until smooth, then add a few more tablespoons of buttermilk and continue to mash until you have a smooth, lump-free paste. Repeat the process until you've worked about half of the buttermilk into the miso and you have a smooth, pourable mixture (working the buttermilk in just a bit at a time helps prevent lumps). Whisk in the rest of the buttermilk until smooth. Refrigerate while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.

Mix the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and baking soda to combine.

Work in the butter: Add the pieces of butter to the bowl with the flour mixture and toss to coat. Then use your fingertips to quickly smash all the pieces into the flour mixture, flattening them and breaking up into bits.

Mix in the miso buttermilk: Stirring the mixture constantly with a fork, drizzle the buttermilk mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Using a flexible spatula or bench scraper. fold the mixture several times inside the bowl to bring the dough together and ensure that it's evenly combined. It will be a bit wet and sticky.

Form the biscuits: Turn the dough our onto a lightly floured surface. Use floured hands to pat it into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Use a bench scraper or knife to cut the dough in half lengthwise and again crosswise to create quadrants. Stack the quadrants one on top of the other, dust a bit more flour on top and underneath the dough, and then roll out the stack with a rolling pin into a square measuring about 8½ inches across (this stacking and rolling step creates flakiness).

Cut and chill the biscuits: Using a sharp knife, trim the edges to straighten so you have a neat 8-inch square. Then cut the square into sixteen 2-inch squares (a 4x4 grid). Transfer each square to the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about 15 minutes to allow the butter to firm up.

Brush with butter and bake: Brush the tops of the chilled biscuits with the 2 tablespoons melted butter and top with black pepper. Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and reduce the temperature to 375°F. Bake until the tops of the biscuits are browned and the bottoms are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet.