I never go straight to the point if I can go the most difficult way. Why be simple when you can be complicated?

Complicated Biscuits

INGREDIENTS:
Makes 6 biscuits

2 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon dried yeast
3 cups Pastry Flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening,
cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup buttermilk
Egg wash made with 1 egg
and 1 teaspoon water
Coarse raw sugar
1/2 cup fresh preserves



Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine warm water and yeast. Mix with a whisk to dissolve yeast, then let sit for 5 minutes while yeast blooms.

Sift flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Toss with your hands to combine. Drop pieces of shortening into bowl. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut in shortening until it’s evenly distributed and the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Add the yeast water and buttermilk and mix with a wooden spoon just until dough comes together. Take care not to overmix.

Coat your hands with flour and pull dough from bowl onto a floured work surface. Pat dough into a rectangle, approximately 9 x 5 inches, positioning dough so that a long side is facing you. The dough will be sticky at first, so keep flouring your hands and the work surface as needed. To achieve the flaky, layered texture of these biscuits, it’s important to give the dough a series of tri-folds: Fold the dough into thirds, as you would a letter, folding the left third over the center third first and then folding the right third on top. Sprinkle the work surface with a little more flour and flatten the folded dough into another 9 x 5-inch rectangle. Follow the same folding and flattening procedure 2 more times (for a total of 3 tri-folds), ending with a rectangle 3/4 to 1 inch thick.

Cut dough into 6 equal (2-1/2 x 3-inch) rectangles and place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush biscuits with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse raw sugar. Bake on center rack of oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top and bottom. Let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes, then dent the top of each biscuit with a spoon. Top with heaping dollops of your favorite preserves.