Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttermilk Biscuits makes 1 dozen
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp and 1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried rosemary or thyme
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chopped
1 cup buttermilk

1. Heat oven to 425. Chop butter and chill in freezer.
2. Sift flour with baking powder, salt, and herbs.
3. Cut in butter and fold in buttermilk.
4. Gently scoop dough onto baking sheet and roll to 3/4 inch thick. Fold over and roll again.
5. Gently perforate square pieces and bake for 22 minutes.

The technique to getting nice flaky layers is to have the butter truly cold, work quickly, and cut the fat evenly into the flour. If the butter is too warm, the biscuits will be dense. If the butter hunks are to big, they melt out of the biscuits and burn on the pan instead of melt in the biscuits. I know this from experience, and  burning butter smells dramatically different than golden biscuits fluffing in the oven. Dramatically different.
To make a great biscuit, heat the oven and then cut the butter into small hunks. Set the butter in the freezer while measuring the dry ingredients. Mix butter into flour mixture with a pastry cutter or two knives until it looks like little peas in the flour.

Quickly fold in the buttermilk. Have a baking sheet lined with a Silpat nearby and scoop biscuit dough onto sheet. Roll with rolling pin until about 3/4 inch thick. Fold over once and roll again. Gently perforate the dough into square pieces and bake.