Flaky Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits

1. Before you start, pop ½ cup unsalted butter into the freezer for a few minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F
2. Have a bowl with the excess flour set aside for dusting the work surface.

Prep the biscuit dough

1. Add ½ teaspoon sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of baking powder, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, and 2 teaspoons of garlic powder to a a sieve and sift them together. Alternatively, whisk to combine nicely and aerate the flour.
2. Dust the side of a box grater (with the largest holes) with flour. Take your stick of butter from the freezer and drop it into a flour, and grate that stick of butter. Place in the fridge while you prep everything else. Add grated butter into flour mixture and use your fingers to mix it in - the flour and butter should NOT stick. Use your fingers to pinch butter with the flour if you can! Note: If you're using a food processor, make sure to chill the bowl and the blade (or disc) before you shred. Otherwise, the butter will melt on the steel (and that's not fun to clean out!)
3. Now, slowly add 1 cup of cold buttermilk, and use a rubber spatula until a coarse mixture forms - take care not to add too much liquid at once! This can over saturate some parts of the dough and leave others totally dry.
4. Using the same side of the box grater, shred cheddar. Then add 1½½ cups of sharp cheddar cheese and fold this into the dough until it's pliable using your hands (don't overwork it!)

Make the biscuits

1. Spray your counter with some cooking oil spray (optional) and dust it with some flour - this helps make sure that your dough doesn't absorb all the flour on the counter
2. Empty your dough on the work surface and roll it between your hands (almost rocking side to side) - do not knead the dough!
3. Then, pat the dough from side to side to flatten it (use one hand and don't apply any pressure). Once it's flat in the shape of a rectangle, fold either side towards the center. Now rotate the dough so it's perpendicular to what it was before and pat it down once more. Then, once more (so a total of three times)
4. Now, place the nice flat surface on your counter and pat the dough into a nice rectangle, about ½" thick (less than the distance upto the first joint of your index finger) - this will make biscuits that are 1-1.5" thick (they'll double when you bake) Dust a biscuit cutter (2 ¼") with flour and then punch into the dough. Take care not to twist it until your biscuit cutter has hit your work surface. Shake the biscuit out of the cutter.
5. Bring the scraps together and pat them into a rectangular dough (avoid the rolling pin). Punch out the biscuits. Add the rest of the biscuits close to each other, arranging them in a circle (take care not to punch them down while arranging them)
6. Make sure that the pinched edge (what used to be on the bottom) is at the top - this will ensure a higher rise!
7. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter for the topping, add ½ teaspoon of minced garlic and mix well. Brush the tops of all your biscuits with this butter-garlic mixture
8. Then, pop them into the oven and bake them for about 20 minutes until the top is golden brown. Or you can tap the biscuit with a fork to check the consistency. If it's not quite as brown, pop them back in for another 3 to 5 minutes (this will depend on your oven!)
9. Pull them out of the oven, brush with a bit more butter (and any cheddar cheese if you have extra) and pop them back in for 2-3 minutes.
10. Brush the baked biscuits with more butter. Enjoy the flakiest biscuit ever!