From Our State’s A Taste of Our State series. Click here to read or listen to contributor Sheri Castle’s column from the March 2025 issue.

Not everyone can craft perfect yeast rolls or biscuits on the first try, but anyone can bake great Butter Swims from the get-go. They require neither the patient proofing and shaping of yeast rolls nor the delicate rolling and cutting of biscuits. Just stir up the dough, pour it into a trusty skillet, cut it so that streams of melted butter can run through, and place it into a hot oven. Voila! Intensely buttery, warm, homemade bread in minutes. Each piece has a biscuit-like center wrapped in a golden-brown crust from having baked in butter.

Makes 8 servings.

2½ cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups buttermilk
½ cup salted butter, cut into pats

Heat the oven to 450°.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl until well-combined. Add buttermilk and, using a silicone spatula, stir to make sticky dough that absorbs all the dry ingredients.

Put the butter in a 10.5-inch cast-iron skillet and place into the oven to melt.

Remove skillet from oven. Pour in dough and gently spread to the edges. Using a knife, cut through dough to make 8 strips, wedges, or rough squares, separating edges to let melted butter bubble up between pieces. Because the dough is sticky, the cuts won’t be smooth and they’ll close up, but you’ll be able to separate the pieces along those lines once baked.

Bake in center of oven until tops are puffy and a deep golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes before serving warm.