Biscuits and Gravy

Instructions

1. For best results, chill your butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It's ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits.
2. Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper. Set aside.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well.
4. Remove your butter from the freezer and cut it into your flour mixture using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
5. Add the cold milk to the flour mixture and use a spoon to stir until just combined (don't over-mix, you don't want to overwork this dough)
6. Transfer the biscuit dough to a clean, well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable.
7. Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough (this will help give your biscuits flaky layers).
8. Use your hands to gently flatten the dough to 1" thick.
9. Press a 2 ¾" wide biscuit cutter straight down into the dough (making close cuts) and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.
10. Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible and place less than ½" apart on baking sheet.
11. Once you have cut as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-work the dough to cut out another biscuit or two until you have at least 7 biscuits.
12. Transfer to the oven and bake on 425°F for 10-12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.
13. Prepare your gravy while the biscuits are baking.
14. Place sausage in a saucepan and turn heat to medium-high. Cook, crumbling the sausage as it cooks, until no pink remains. Do not drain the skillet.
15. Sprinkle the ¼ cup of flour evenly over the sausage crumbles and cook a minute longer until the flour is absorbed.
16. Slowly pour the milk into your skillet, stirring as you pour. Add crushed red pepper, if using.
17. Cook, stirring, until mixture is thickened.
18. Once biscuits are finished baking, slice in half, pour gravy over biscuits, and serve!