Sausage Gravy & Buttermilk Biscuit Breakfast Pie

Ingredients
THE SAUSAGE GRAVY

• 1/2 lb breakfast sausage (homemade if you have it)
• 3 Tbsp flour, all purpose variety
• 1.5-2 c cups whole milk
• salt, kosher variety, to taste
• black pepper, freshly ground, to taste
• slice provolone cheese, sliced

THE BISCUITS

• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/4 c warm water, about 105f (40c)
• 4 c flour, all-purpose variety
• 1 tsp white sugar, granulated variety
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt, kosher variety
• 1/2 c lard, cut into pieces
• 1/2 c sweet butter, unsalted, cold and cut into pieces
• 1 c fresh buttermilk

Directions
THE SAUSAGE GRAVY

1. Gather your ingredients.
2. Add the sausage to a skillet over medium heat.
3. Cook, breaking the sausage apart with a wooden spoon until no longer pink, about 5 to 8 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to medium low, and then add the flour.
5. Stir, using the wooden spoon, until the flour is completely incorporated into the sausage, about 2 minutes.
6. Pour 1.5 cups of the milk into the pan.
7. Stir until the mixture begins to thicken. Chef’s Note: If the mixture is too thick use the remaining milk, a bit at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved.
8. Season with a generous amount of pepper, and a bit of salt, to taste.
9. Keep warm, and reserve.

THE BISCUITS

1. Gather your ingredients.
2. Add the sugar to the warm water and mix.
3. Add the yeast and allow it to proof for 5 minutes. Chef’s Note: After 5 minutes the top of the water should be nice and foamy. If it isn’t then your yeast is dead. Give it a proper burial, and buy more yeast.
4. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a food processor fitted with an S-blade.
5. Give the mixture a few one-second pulses until fully incorporated.
6. Add the cold butter and the lard to the flour mixture, and give it a few one-second pulses, until you have small pea-size bits of butter.
7. Add the flour mixture to a large bowl.
8. Combine the yeast/water mixture with the buttermilk.
9. Add the liquid to the flour and gently mix until all the flour is moistened.
10. Place the dough on a lightly floured board.
11. Kneed until just incorporated, about 1 minute. Gently pat the dough out to about a 1/2-inch thickness, and cut out the biscuits to the size of the container.
12. Place a rack in the middle position, and preheat the oven to 400f (205c).
13. Add some of the sausage gravy to a small ovenproof serving dish.
14. Add a slice of Provolone to the top of the sausage gravy.
15. Cut a biscuit to size, and place on top. Chef’s Note: Repeat for additional servings.
16. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the biscuit is golden brown.

Serve by itself, or with a couple of eggs, over easy. Enjoy.