Buttermilk Biscuits

What goes better with fried chicken than fresh, hot, buttermilk biscuits? If you answered "nuthin' y'all" then you're correct. The rest of you must go back to comfort food school.

Biscuits
Makes 10 to 12 biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon granulated sugar, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold (1 stick)
3/4 cup half-and-half or buttermilk

Cooking Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and grease a baking sheet or cast-iron skillet.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
Cut the stick of butter into pieces and work it into the flour mixture with your hands or pastry blender until it resembles pea-size crumbs. Add the half-and-half or buttermilk, mixing until the dough is a bit loose and sticky.
Pour the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for a minute. Dough should be smooth and no longer wet. You can sprinkle more flour on the surface if you find it's sticking. Make the dough into a ball and hit it with a rolling pin, turning it and folding it in half every few whacks. Do this for a couple of minutes.
Roll out the dough until it's 1/4 of an inch think, then fold it in half. Using a round biscuit cutter (you can use a glass or a cup if you don't have a biscuit cutter), cut out the biscuits from the folded dough. Place on a greased baking sheet or in a cast-iron skillet close together, about 1/8 of an inch apart (so they rise up not out), and bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

NOTE: If you don't want to roll and cut them out, after kneading and beating the dough you can drop the dough onto the baking sheet with a spoon. They're not as symmetrical (dropped biscuits are also known as cat-head biscuits), but they're no less delicious.