The idea started as a way to use up some sour* milk. I couldn't bear to just pour it down the drain and so I started scouting around for ways in which to use it up. I remembered reading a line in a vintage cookbook about saving sour milk for quick breads and muffins (oh, the food knowledge we've lost over the years, I'm sure my grandma Bunny would have know what to do with sour milk without consulting a cookbook). Flipping through my turquoise-covered Joy of Cooking (the edition from the late 1960s), I settled on making a batch of biscuits.

I realize that for many of you out there, the idea of making biscuits to go with dinner isn't a groundbreaking idea. However, I grew up in a family where we did not eat bread products with our evening meal (although my grandparents always had bread on their dining table and my sister and I used to think it was the most thrilling thing ever) and so for me, dinner-time biscuits feels subversive and exciting.

They came together quickly and baked up quickly, adding a level of special-ness and comfort to a regular old dinner. There were a few leftover and I ate them for breakfast the next day with peanut butter and homemade jam.

*When raw milk sours, it's still usable in baking and cooking. Sadly, when pasteurized milk goes bad, it's just bad and can't be salvaged.

Biscuit recipe

1 cup flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour, because that's my go-to flour. You can go with all-purpose if you'd like)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons cold butter
1/3 to 1/2 cup of sour milk (start with less and see how much your dough needs to come together)

Stir dry ingredients together. Cut butter into small pieces and rub into the flour (you can use a pastry blender if you'd like, but the tactile nature of the butter and flour coming together is nice). When butter is incorporated, slowly pour half the milk in. Stir the dough and add a little more milk, stopping when the dough forms a ball.

Roll the dough out on a floured board and cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter (you could also cut it into squares, if you'd like). Line up the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes in a 400 degree oven.