Grandmother Walters's Biscuits

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons double-acting baking powder 
• 5 tablespoons butter diced european style cold
• 2 cups flour for dusting all-purpose plus more
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 2 teaspoons sugar 
• 1 cup milk whole

Equipment

• baking sheet
• oven
• mixing bowl
• kitchen towels
• pastry cutter

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt into a mixing bowl. Using a fork or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until it resembles cornmeal.
2. Add the milk, stirring until the dough just comes together to form a ball.
3. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Gently pat the dough down with your hands and fold it over on itself. Pat the dough down and fold it over once or twice more. Loosely cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for a half hour or so.
4. Being careful not to overwork the dough, roll it out until it is 3/4 to 1 inch thick.
5. Cut dough into biscuits using whatever cutter you like. Grandmother used an inverted juice glass, which was really an old preserves jar. For more biscuits, use a smaller glass.
6. Place the biscuits on a cookie sheet and bake until uniformly golden brown, 10–14 minutes.
7. Reprinted with permission from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh., © September 2009 Andrews McMeel Publishing