Biscuits and Gravy
Peppery, milk-thickened sausage gravy ladled generously over flaky, laminated buttermilk biscuits. A quick, hearty Southern breakfast ready in about half an hour.
- 1 pound breakfast sausage
- 1/3 cup flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 2 1/8 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed (even better if frozen)
- 3/4 cup cold buttermilk, plus a bit more for brushing
- Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder to a food processor and pulse several times until everything is evenly combined.
- Add the cubed butter and cold buttermilk to the food processor and pulse just until the mixture comes together. Cold, even frozen, butter is what creates those distinct flaky layers once it hits the hot oven and its water content turns to steam.
- Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface and gather it into a ball, then roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick.
- Fold the dough over on one side, then the other, creating three stacked layers, and pat it back down. Repeat this fold-and-pat process one more time, then gently roll the dough back out. This simple lamination is what builds the tall, flaky layers biscuits are known for.
- Cut out 10 biscuits using a 3-inch biscuit cutter, pressing straight down without twisting so the layers can rise evenly. Place them on the prepared baking sheet, brush the tops with the reserved buttermilk, and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until golden brown.
- Brown the breakfast sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up into small crumbles as it cooks.
- Sprinkle the flour directly into the pan with the sausage and whisk constantly until the fat is fully absorbed into the flour, forming a rough paste. Keep whisking as you pour in the milk slowly, a little at a time, to avoid any lumps forming.
- Stir in the salt and pepper and let the gravy simmer, whisking regularly, for 5 to 6 minutes until it thickens to a rich, pourable consistency.
- Split the warm biscuits and ladle the sausage gravy generously over top to serve.
Chef's Note: The fold-and-pat lamination on the biscuit dough is really the whole trick here — it's a simplified version of the same principle behind puff pastry, building distinct layers of butter and dough that puff apart into flakes once the butter's moisture turns to steam in the oven. Keeping that butter as cold as possible right up until it hits the oven is what makes or breaks the final texture, so don't be afraid to pop the dough back in the fridge for a few minutes if it starts to feel soft while you're working.
For the gravy, whisking the flour directly into the rendered sausage fat before adding any milk is what prevents lumps later — that fat-soaked flour paste is essentially a quick roux. Pour the milk in slowly and keep whisking, and you'll end up with a smooth, thick gravy rather than one with flour clumps floating through it.
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