Butter & Cream Biscuits in a Camp Cast Iron Dutch Oven

You are about to learn fresh-from-the-Dutch-oven, crisped-by-iron, flaky-by-butter, pillows of the cast iron camp Dutch oven. These biscuits are soft and yet crispy at the same time.

There are a few things that I really love in my life. I am sure we share a few of those loves with life and liberty being mutually loved and desired. Friends, I am going to make a preemptive assumption that we’ll be sharing a third love once you’ve tried these biscuits.

We’ll use Half & Half in our example. This recipe will work with Buttermilk, Kefir, Old Milk, and even Beer and Milk.

This recipe is as easy as they come, and most of the preparation can be done at home before leaving for camp.

Here’s an older version of this recipe that I posted some time back: https://beerandiron.com/beer-buttermilk-biscuits-cast-iron-recipe/

For this recipe, I am using the 10-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven. When I make this recipe at home, I use my 10.25-inch cast iron skillet.

For low-calorie biscuits, use your 12-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven. No, not really…but here’s what I mean:

When rolling out your dough, create a round that is the same size as the bottom of your cast iron Dutch oven. The 12-inch has a wider base and your biscuits will be a bit thinner (and have fewer calories per biscuit) than those created in the 10-inch oven.

For a fatter biscuit in a 12-inch camp cast iron Dutch oven, increase the recipe to one-and-a-half times the listed ingredients. You could double the recipe if you’d like. Start with 1.5x the recipe and if your biscuits are not “pillow-ey” enough, then next time 2x the recipe.

Supplies You May Need (Affiliate Links)

Bowl for mixing the biscuit dough
Measuring Cup (a 1 Cup will be all you need)
Measuring Spoons (Tablespoon and Teaspoon): https://amzn.to/3YPUnaM
Pastry Cutter: https://amzn.to/45IKQEA
Biscuit Cutter: https://amzn.to/3R2h9KN
Wooden Spatula or Sauté Paddle: https://amzn.to/3K1g1Cu
Rubber Spatula
2nd Bowl for Scrambling the Egg Glaze
Fork for Scrambling the Egg
Pastry Brush: https://amzn.to/3YPubwV

Note on the Biscuit Cutter: You could just roll balls of dough and bake the biscuits that way. You could even use a knife cut the biscuits into squares. Even a paper cup that has the rim torn off (to create the sharper edge) will work.

Note on the Pastry Cutter: I have forgotten my pastry cutter before and have just whittled up the butter with my pocket knife and worked it into the flour with my fingers. It will “warm up” the butter, but will be okay.

I have even forgotten the bowl I need to mix the dough in and used a zipper bag (the one I stored something else in) to mix the dough. They were MESSY, but we had biscuits that morning.

You will forget something. NO WORRIES! Use what you have. You can make this work (unless you forget the flour…yeah…that’s not going to work).

Mixture Ingredients

2 Cups Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
8 Tablespoons Butter (a Stick)
1 Cup (PLUS) Half and Half Cream (more or less)
1 Scrambled Egg for Glazing (Optional)
½ to 1 Cups of Flour (for Dusting)

Ready to Cook

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1) Mix the dry stuff together: 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt.

Step 2) Cut the 8 tablespoons of butter into the dry mixture. You’ll end up with a dry, oatmeal consistency.

Step 3) Pour in your cup of half and half. But you could use buttermilk, kefir, spoiled milk, vinegar-ed milk, or even just plain old milk. You’ll need a cup or more depending on the liquid’s consistency and how packed your cups of flour ended up being. You could even use plain yogurt but you’ll usually need much more than a cup of yogurt due to the thickness of the yogurt.

Step 4) Mix around with a rubber or silicone spatula big enough to handle the load. A big bamboo wooden spoon would work too.

Step 5) “Flour” or dust the top of your table or working surface and plop out the dough onto the floured surface. Then, dust the top of the sticky dough with a bit more flour.

Step 6) Flattened and fold over the dough a few times; don’t knead the dough like bread. Make a single, large, round circle from the all of the dough about as big around as the diameter of the bottom of the pot or pan you’ll be baking these biscuits in.

Step 7) Cut the individual biscuits out from the dough. A biscuit cutter works best but a coffee cup, paper cup, or even a knife to cut square biscuits. But don’t worry about being perfectly round or even on each and every one. It’s okay to have weird shapes and odd sizes.

Step 8) Place the cut biscuits in a 10-inch cast iron camp Dutch oven that has been buttered up real nice. Trust me when I say “buttered up.” Butter is the key to keep these biscuits both flavorful as well as keeping them from sticking. Butter is the key here.

Step 9) Scramble an egg up real good and using one of those kitchen paint brushes (basing brush), paint the top of those dudes with a thin layer of scrambled egg.

Step 10) Put the lid back on your camp cast iron Dutch oven and place the oven over 6 or 7 briquettes. Place 13 or 14 briquettes on top of the lid.

Step 11) Let the biscuits bake for about 10 minutes. Then, give the Dutch oven and the lid a ⅓ turn. Lift the lid just a bit and take a peek. Note not only the tops but also the bottoms of the biscuits (as well as you can visualize). Are the bottoms toasting well? If not, close in those bottom briquettes a bit closer to the center of the circle toward the middle of the Dutch oven.

Step 12) Wait another 10 minutes and take another look-see. They are likely done at this point. Cook longer if you plan to eat right away. But, if you have other things to cook or that are still cooking, remember this: that hot pot will continue baking those biscuits even after you remove the heat from the pot.

Once they’re done, get the jelly out, and start munching.

Enjoy

Chef Tip: Note the time you will keep those biscuits in that pot as you cook the other ingredients. As they cool, they will steam and condensation will form. If they sit in the pot too long, they will get soggy from their collected steam moisture.

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