Georgia on My Mind
Buttermilk biscuits, recipes below
In the words of Georgia Native and singer and song writer Ray Charles, the culinary traditions of the Antebellum era have put Georgia on my mind. The Swedish novelist Fredrika Bremer had an opportunity to experience Georgia cookery at a camp meeting (a revival) in Macon, Georgia in 1850.
At sunrise she woke to the delightful sound of African Americans singing hymns and the delicious smell of frying ham and eggs, simmering red-eye gravy, steaming rice or grits, and baking buttermilk biscuits. “After the service came the dinner hour, when I visited several tents in the black camp, and saw tables covered with all kinds of meat, puddings, and tarts; there seemed to be a regular superfluity of food and drink.” Masters generally granted slaves time off for revivals and holidays like July 4th. They also furnished slaves with flour for making biscuits.
Southerners considered biscuits special occasion bread because they required far more preparation than corn bread.
Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
2 cups spelt flour 1/8 teaspoon baking soda to up the flour rise/ or use 2 cups self-rising flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup sugar
4 tablespoon vegetable shortening
2/3 cup heavy or whipping cream/half and half works too
1 cup buttermilk, or until dough is like cottage cheese
1 cup whole-wheat flour for shaping the wet dough into biscuits
2 tablespoons melted butter to brush over the baked biscuits
Method
Preheat the oven to 425; spray cook sheet or cast iron skillet with non-stick spray; combine dry ingredients except for the 1 cup flour for shaping the dough; stir in buttermilk and cream and let stand for 2-3 minutes. Flour your hands and softly shape your biscuits. If you’re rushing, use an ice-cream scope. Place the biscuits tightly against each other on wax paper so they will rise up instead of out. Sprinkle with flour then place then on the sprayed surface for baking. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with the melted butter and serve, makes about a dozen biscuits.
