Black-Pepper Biscuits with Sorghum

I didn't grow up eating biscuits. My mother never really made them and the restaurants in Seattle served great waffles and pancakes, but horrible biscuits. When I moved to West Virginia I quickly learned that biscuits are a big deal around here. There is a whole chain of fast food restaurants centered around them. The first time I attempted to make biscuits after I moved here was a total disaster. The biscuits barely rose and the taste was less than great. The next couple of times were so-so. They weren't great, but not disgusting. Finally, after numerous tries and approximately five years I learned to make great biscuits. Now I love them and make a batch at least once a month. Today I tried a new recipe for Black-Pepper Biscuits with Sorghum from the June issue of Martha Stewart Living.

This recipe has 9 ingredients. It takes a total of 35 minutes, 10 of which is active and makes 10 servings. I was unable to find sorghum at any of my local grocery stores so I ended up special ordering it. I love that the small ethnic grocery store by my house will order me things and that it only takes a couple of days to arrive. I had no problems with any of the other ingredients and I made no modifications. Make sure to not overly touch the dough. The more you touch the dough the tougher your biscuits will be and the less they will rise. After adding the buttermilk you need to mix the dough just until it comes together, if you mix longer than that it will make the biscuits tough and flat. I ended up with 14 total biscuits, not the 10 suggested by the recipe. My biscuits took exactly 14 minutes to cook and no more. I did rotate my baking sheets halfway through the cooking time. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

These biscuits were delicious. I was worried that they would taste overly peppery, but they only have a mild taste of pepper. My two boys loved the sorghum on top of the biscuits and ate their whole servings. I was happy because I was worried that they might be too adult tasting. These biscuits rose very well and browned beautifully on top. This is a recipe I would definitely make again.

For the recipe go to Black-Pepper Biscuits.