Recipe: Ponca City Monthly April 2020

If you know me, then you know I live for brunch. While spending a weekend with a friend in Los Angeles cooking, drinking wine, and eating at fantastic restaurants, we brunched at M.B. Post in Manhattan Beach. Chef David LeFevre, and former Iron Chef contestant, has made this restaurant locally renowned for his Bacon Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits. I instantly fell in love and these savory bits of heaven and they have become a staple at my brunches. Like Chef LeFevre, I use them as a base for eggs benny, various breakfast sandwiches, and I even serve them alone with whipped maple butter and jalapeño sand plum jam! However you decide to top them, I suspect that you’ll fall in love with these biscuits, just as I did. I modified his recipe to work with a food processor, rather than cutting the butter into the dry ingredients by hand.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz (1 1/2 cups) Chilled All-Purpose Flour

4 1/4 tsp Baking Powder

Kosher Salt 1 oz (1/ 8 cup)

Sugar 1 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda 1 stick

Frozen Butter (cut into cubes) 1 cup

Cold Buttermilk 6 oz

Sharp Cheddar Cheese (cut into 1/4” cubes) 6 oz

Bacon (rendered, drained and roughly chopped) 1 oz (1 cup)

Fresh Chives (chopped) 1/2 oz (1 Tbsp)1/4 oz (about 11/2 tsp)

Clarified ButterFleur de Sel finishing salt (optional)

Makes 12 drop biscuits

INSTRUCTIONS:Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Using a food processor, pulse flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and baking soda until combined. Add the frozen butter and pulse until the butter is the size of hazelnuts.

Transfer contents to a large mixing bowl; add cheese, bacon and chives; using a fork or whisk, mix until evenly combined. Working quickly so as to not let the butter warm, gradually drizzle the chilled buttermilk into the bowl while stirring and tossing with a fork. Knead

dough a few times with your hands until a rough dough is formed making sure to incorporate any loose or dry pieces of dough (dough will be slightly dry and a little crumbly). Be careful to not overwork the dough, or your biscuits will be dense.

Using a ¼ measuring cup, drop dough in 12 scoops onto parchment lined baking sheet. Brush tops with clarified butter. Sprinkle with fleur de sel if using and bake 12-15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes and serve.