Biscuits and Gravy, Anyone?

Every first Sunday of the month, my alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. I leap out of bed (ha ha) and rush downstairs to bake... biscuits. It is again time for our Kelsey Community Association Support Breakfast at the old Kelsey Schoolhouse. My biscuits are the foundation of the biscu8ts and gravy. My neighbor (she only lives a half a mile away, that is pretty close here in Kelsey) is also up early making the sausage gravy.
Hopefully the coffee is all set to go. I usually need it.

5:33 a.m. If I have been doing my job right, the first batch of biscuits is already in the oven cooking.

I have to make at least 60 biscuits, so I use Bisquick. I only have to add milk. Above is a vintage Bisquick tin I found recently on ebay.

I didn't buy it, but I am thinking about it. I use enough Bisquick to make it worthwhile.

Since my counter is tile, I have a big old bread board I found at an estate sale to roll my dough out on.

I have a collection of bisquit cutters, probably at least six of the proper size, but this is the one I like the most. The dough can be any thickness and it still fits well. The nasturtium tin holds flour which I use generously to sprinkle the board and the rolling pin.

My rolling pin (one of several I own, most are vintage) was handmade and also found at an estate sale. It is large and fairly heavy. I use it mainly for my large batches of biscuits.

This is the large box of Bisquick. My dear hubby buys me three at a time from Costco. One whole box makes about 60 biscuits when I make them. The box says it makes 75, so I must roll mine out a bit thicker than usual.

Here is half the batch ready to knead and roll out. I do a half at a time, which give me just enough dough to cover about 3/4 of my bread board.

Bigger is better, whether it is the rolling pin, box of Bisquick or my measuring cup!

Plenty of flour from my nasturtium canister helps the dough keep from sticking to the bread board and the cutter.

I took these pictures in October, when Ishi was still pretty little. He is hoping for a bit of spilt milk. I can't believe how much more fluffy his tail is now that he is older.

I have two hollow cookie sheets I bake the biscuits on. They each hold 16 biscuits, and I bake them one at a time, filling up the empty one as the other one bakes. Sometimes they take almost 15 minutes to bake completely.

They will rise a bit as they wait to go into the oven, but they do most of the rising while they are baking.

I love cutting them out, the squishy feel of the cutter going in, twisting it a bit to make sure all the sides are cut. If the cookie sheets are full, I pile them up on the corners of the bread board like little leaning towers of pisa.

They are little poppin' fresh dough boys awaiting their trip into the tanning booth.

After kneading each 1/2 of the dough for 20 times, I get a bit more of a workout rolling it out.

Plenty of flour, that is one of the secrets.

Before and after. This should be what is happening about 5:45 am. Almost done with the baking part.

Cooling on one of my three racks.

Start of a couple of leaning towers.

I wonder how many biscuits this cutter has made in its vintage life?

My helper is making sure the floor is cleaned up as we go.

That doesn't look like part of a biscuit. Lettuce, more likely.

They are all done now, time to finish them off.

I cut the biscuits in half and add butter. I use tub butter, like Country Crock, because it spreads easily and I have a lot of biscuits to cover!

Cut in half, pile them up again, and add butter.

I have my favorite knife for the biscuit cutting and my favorite for the butter adding.

A plate of rejects or extras for dear hubby. He is sleeping in a bit, it is still only about 6:30 am.

Ready for packing up.

My two Tupperware breadboxes, garage sale finds, hold just enough to take the biscuits on their trip to the schoolhouse.

Nice and fresh. At the schoolhouse, the cook has heated up the electric griddle and covered it with foil. When I get there, I will put the biscuits on the griddle in two layers and cover them with foil and they will stay warm.

I love the way the crock of butter has this cute little curl on top.

It doesn't take much to amuse me at 6:15 in the morning.

About the time I am all finished and getting dressed and ready to leave to take the biscuits to the breakfast, my dear hubby is enjoying his rejects with honey, jam or jelly.

On my way I will stop and pick up my neighbor along with her gigantic pot of sausage gravy which she has been making since early this morning, and we will travel the five miles to the schoolhouse, with the smells of fresh baked biscuits and sausage gravy making our stomachs growl the whole way.

At 8:00 am hungry neighbors will start filing in, ready for their share.