Recipes Bread Quick Bread Biscuits Carla Hall's Buttermilk Biscuits 3.8 (4) 3 Reviews Made with a combination of grated cold butter for flavor and vegetable shortening for tenderness, Carla Hall's biscuits owe their towering, flaky layers to her classic laminating technique. By Carla Hall Carla Hall Carla Hall first won over audiences when she competed on Bravo's Top Chef and Top Chef: All Stars and shared her philosophy to always cook with love. She believes food connects us all, and she strives to communicate this through her work, her cooking, and in her daily interactions with others.Expertise: cooking, soul food, food TV, cookbooks.Experience: Carla spent 7 years co-hosting ABC's Emmy award-winning, popular lifestyle series The Chew, and she currently brightens the mornings of millions as a Culinary Contributor to Good Morning America. Carla is featured on Food Network shows such as BakeAway Camp, Thanksgiving Baking Championship, Holiday Baking Championship, and Worst Cooks in America, as a judge and a host. She was also a judge on Netflix's Crazy Delicious. Carla hosts a podcast on the Wondery Platform, called Say Yes with Carla Hall, focused on interviews with successful people to explore how they overcame challenges and found ways to flourish. Her latest cookbook, Carla Hall's Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration, was published in 2018, landing on best cookbook lists across the country and receiving a NAACP Image Awards nomination.Born in Nashville, Carla grew up surrounded by soul food. When the time came for her to select her career path, she first opted for a business route – she graduated from Howard University's Business School and worked as an accountant for two years – before deciding to switch gears to work as a runway model. It was during that time, as she traveled (and ate) her way through Europe for a few years, that she truly realized her deep-rooted passion for food could be her career path.Today, she is a trained chef who has worked in several professional restaurant kitchens in and around the Washington, D.C. area and is an accomplished television personality and author. In addition to being featured in numerous cookbook collections including The Chew series of cookbooks, she authored Carla's Comfort Food: Favorite Dishes from Around the World and Cooking with Love: Comfort Food That Hugs You.Carla is very active with a number of charities and not-for-profit organizations that reflect her passion for causes close to her heart. She is on the board of trustees for Helen Keller International, Pajama Program, GenYouth, and 4H. The thread which runs through all of these things is advocating for the physical and mental well-being of children.Carla lives in D.C. with her husband, Matthew Lyons. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on July 26, 2023 Tested by Food & Wine Test Kitchen Tested by Food & Wine Test Kitchen Recipes published by Food & Wine are rigorously tested by the culinary professionals at the Dotdash Meredith Food Studios in order to empower home cooks to enjoy being in the kitchen and preparing meals they will love. Our expert culinary team tests and retests each recipe using equipment and ingredients found in home kitchens to ensure that every recipe is delicious and works for cooks at home every single time. Meet the Food & Wine Test Kitchen Rate PRINT Share Trending Videos Close this video player Photo: Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Torie Cox Active Time: 20 mins Total Time: 55 mins Yield: 20 biscuits Ingredients 2 ⅓ cup all-purpose flour (such as King Arthur) (about 11 3/8 ounces), plus more for dusting 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon granulated sugar 1 teaspoon fine sea salt ½ teaspoon baking soda 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (about 3/4 ounces) ½ cup unsalted butter (4 ounces), frozen or very cold Cooking spray 1 ⅓ cup buttermilk, chilled (or substitute 1 cup low-fat buttermilk plus 1/3 cup sour cream) Directions Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Add shortening; using your fingertips, pinch and work shortening into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Grate butter using large holes of a box grater into flour mixture. Toss and pinch quickly with your fingers until all butter pieces are well-coated in flour mixture, about 30 seconds. Lightly spray work surface with cooking spray, and sprinkle with flour. (Spray keeps flour in place.) Add buttermilk to flour mixture in bowl, and stir together to form a shaggy, sticky dough with no dry flour remaining. Turn dough out onto prepared work surface. Lightly coat hands with flour; gently pat dough using heels of hands to form a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle (about 11 x 7 1/2 inches). Fold rectangle into thirds (like folding a letter). Repeat process of patting and folding 2 times. Preheat oven to 450°F. Using a lightly-floured 2 1/4-inch round cutter, cut dough, stacking, reshaping, and cutting scraps until all dough is used. Turn dough rounds smooth side up; arrange 3/4 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate, uncovered, until cold, about 15 minutes. Bake chilled dough in preheated oven until tops are golden brown and lightly crisped, 16 to 20 minutes. Let biscuits cool on pan 5 minutes. Make Ahead Freeze unbaked biscuits on pan, and transfer to a resealable freezer bag. Freeze up to 2 months. Originally appeared: November 2021 Rate It Print