2 important notes before we begin: First, only real butter please! If you decide to use something else, you do so at your own risk! Second, if you cannot find White Lily flour, try to find another flour made from a soft white winter wheat. It’s important because the fineness of the flour lends itself to very fluffy and light biscuits when done!

Preheat oven to 500ºF.

Cut butter into small pats and lay out on a cookie sheet lined in wax paper. Stick in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. Prepare a cast iron skillet with a tiny amount of bacon grease, if available. (The easiest thing is to fry 1 slice of bacon, wipe out the pan, and you’re good to go!)

Note: It’s very important to use a cast iron skillet and some sort of grease on the bottom of the pan. It goes a long way with flavor. Don’t be too terribly worried about it being unhealthy, you barely need anything on the bottom of the skillet, just a faint sheen of grease.

Combine all the dry ingredients together and then cut in the butter. Cut in until the butter is about pea-sized, relatively well mixed in. Add buttermilk. Add slowly until you have just enough where the dough separates from the sides of the bowl. Stir until just combined and roll it out onto a well-floured surface. If it seems a little dry here, that’s ok. The wetter the dough, the more difficult it is to work with.

Before kneading, cover with some flour. Knead a couple of times and flatten out to about 3/4″ to 1″ thickness. (Honestly, the thicker the better, because they rise so beautifully!) Using a biscuit cutter, or just a glass cup, cut out biscuits. Press straight down, don’t twist the cup/cutter.

Place biscuits in the cast-iron skillet and be sure biscuits are touching. You can use whatever size cutter you want, just be sure the biscuits are touching on each side. This makes them rise better!

Bake at 500ºF for about 8-10 minutes. At about the 6-minute mark, take the skillet out of the oven and brush the biscuits with melted salted butter. You pretty much have to brush the tops with butter. This is an integral part of the baking process. And be liberal with it, brush on the sides of the biscuits if they are showing. This proves the biscuits with so much flavor once they are done!

Different ovens may react differently, so please be sure to watch the biscuits carefully. They don’t take that long to cook and can go from perfect to burnt very quickly. If you use a small size biscuit cutter, be away they will bake fast! Don’t let the tops get too brown because you want the biscuits to stay light and fluffy inside and not get overcooked!

To finish, throw on some bacon, eggs, sausage, jelly, whatever! They are delicious!