Buttermilk Biscuits

I love buttermilk biscuits, but I've never been very successful at making them myself...I've always resorted to buying the vacuum packed tubes at the store. Shameful, I know. :) So I finally decided that I had to conquer. I used a recipe from Fanny Farmer and the biscuits were barely ok...so I pulled out the heavy guns and used this recipe from Tyler Florence. I was very happy with the results. The minor differences from the Fanny Farmer recipe (Tyler recommended folding 3 or 4 times instead of kneading 14 times and using chilled shortening, among other things) made the difference. I give his recipe and instructions below. He suggests brushing them with butter before they go into the oven...I brushed half with butter and half with buttermilk and preferred those that were brushed with buttermilk (although not by much). I also used only 1/2 tsp of salt.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk

Instructions
In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients together with a fork. Cut in the shortening using a pastry blender (note from Dan: I used two butter knives to do this) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk. Quickly fold dry ingredients into buttermilk with your hands until a sticky dough forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Gently fold the dough over itself 3 or 4 times to create layers. Roll dough out to 3/4-inch thick. Cut with a 3-inch biscuit cutter. Transfer dough rounds to a sheet pan. Gather scraps and repeat. Make a dimple in the center to help the top rise evenly. Brush with butter. Bake for 15 minutes in a preheated 400 degree oven until golden brown.