If you love reading about food, we presume you have already read Rick Bragg’s The Best Cook in the World. If you have not, do so now. Elsewhere, Bragg has written about the glory of his mother’s cathead biscuits, but for reasons best known to himself, did not include the recipe for them in that book; so far, we haven’t located it in his other writings. This recipe will have to do for now.

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups cake flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt (for table salt, use a scant 1 teaspoon)
• 6 ounces cold unsalted butter (not including what you add at serving)
• 1 ¼ cups cold buttermilk
• Optional: honey, for serving

First, why do you have to use two different kinds of flour? Cake flour has a lower protein content, which means it has less gluten, which in turn means that the crumb will be lighter, softer, and more tender. This is exactly what you want. However, if you overmix even low-protein flours, you can overdevelop the gluten – so mix with a light, soft, and tender touch (only until the ingredients are mixed, and no longer).

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Put a round 9-inch metal cake or pie pan on middle oven rack to preheat.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Next, slice off 1 tablespoon of butter and set aside. Grate remaining butter, using the large holes of a box grater, onto a sheet of parchment paper. Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients, and toss to coat. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the mixture until it is crumbly, with no big chunks of butter.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, then pour in the buttermilk. Mix with a fork until a rough batter forms. Use your hands to gently fold the dough over itself a few times, until dough is sticky and no dry bits are left. But please be careful not to overmix.

Remove the heated pan from the oven and put on a heatproof surface. Add the tablespoon of butter set aside earlier to the pan, and swirl the pan until the base is coated and the butter is completely melted.

Divide the dough into seven equal portions, shaping each into a rough ball. Arrange six around the edge, and put the last in the middle; the balls should be slightly touching each other.

Bake the biscuits at 425 degrees until they spring back when touched and are golden brown on the top (30-35 minutes).

Allow the biscuits to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then use a spatula to slide them out of the pan. (You can also serve them in the pan if you like). Serve hot or warm with honey and extra butter. Alternatively, mix equal parts honey and softened butter together to make a nice, sweet honey butter; it’s even more delicious if the honey butter is just slightly melted so that you can pour it over the surface of the biscuits.

Cathead biscuits will hold for a day or two, or wrapped tightly and frozen for 3-4 weeks.