When it comes to American biscuits there are several styles. There are drop biscuits, and flaky biscuits, and then there are buttermilk biscuits. However, I think most people (or Americans at least) think of buttermilk biscuits when someone is talking about biscuits. Buttermilk biscuits are tender and buttery, rich and a little salty. They are the perfect side or snack, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Biscuits are a super quick and easy bake. If you have made any of my scone recipes, you will see it is incredibly similar. There is no yeast involved, and you want to keep your ingredients cold and work the dough as little as possible to keep gluten formation to a minimum. I truly believe everyone can make these successfully. Just remember, less is more!
These buttermilk biscuits are great alone, and also can be a great vehicle for something like a breakfast sandwich. They are tangy, a little sweet, a little salty. To me, biscuits are firmly in the savory category. If you’re thinking you might want something similar but a little sweeter, I’d recommend my Vanilla Cream Scones which are essentially a sweet version of these biscuits. I also recommend my Best Buttermilk Dinner Rolls which are a yeasted buttermilk roll and SO soft and yummy.
Baking Tips & Notes
The mental image you have of buttermilk biscuits (most likely) are small round and golden. Looking at these, you can tell they are not round. This particular biscuit recipe is not the best recipe for using biscuit cutters. You 100% can use them, however I always find it much easier and quicker to cut into squares. This results in zero waste and zero trying to gather and reshape dough to get more biscuits. The less you handle and work your dough, the fluffier and softer the biscuits will be. This is a fairly soft and tender dough that performs much better to simple cuts and less handling.
Like scones, and other pastries with lots of butter, keeping your dough and ingredients cold is a crucial part of the process. Make sure you have all your tools and ingredients ready when you start the process. I personally put the butter in the freezer for about 20 min before baking, to make it easier to grate and also helps keep it colder.
Popping your biscuits in the freezer after cutting them but before baking can also help solidify your butter which will help with rise vs spread in the oven. I usually use this time to preheat the oven while they chill.
Buttermilk Biscuits Key Ingredients
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk (this one has been my favorite recently) is the obvious star ingredient in buttermilk biscuits. It lends to the rich tang as well as tenderizing your dough.
- AP Flour – You want to make sure you do not use bread flour or any higher protein flour. There are exceptions, but these are FLUFFY buttermilk biscuits and we want to keep them ultra soft. This means using a flour with a lower protein count and not working the dough much to prevent creating gluten.
- Honey – Biscuits need just a little sweetness to balance out the acidity of the buttermilk. I chose honey as it pairs with buttermilk well. You can use granulated sugar but honey is preferred.
Ingredients
- 275 g AP Flour 2⅓ cup
- ½ tbsp Morton kosher salt or fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp Baking powder
- ¼ tsp Baking soda
- 112 g Unsalted butter ½ cup, cold
- 220 g Buttermilk 1 cup, cold
- 42 g Honey 2 tbsp
- 1 tbsp Buttermilk for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and then generously flour.
- In a medium to large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder with a fork.
- Take your cold butter and place it into your dry ingredients, coating the sides. This will make your butter easier to handle. Then grate into the flour. Halfway through, take your fork and fluff the grated butter into the flour. Finish grating and repeat.
- Create a well in the center of your ingredients.
- Whisk your honey into your buttermilk.
- Pour your buttermilk honey mixture into the well you have created.
- Using your fork, bring the sides of the well into the center and then mix until a rough dough forms.
- Once the dough has mostly come together, flour your hands and bring the dough together, then patting it out in the bowl into a sort of layer, then fold it over onto itself in half. Add a little more flour to your hands and repeat.
- Transfer dough to parchment lined baking sheet and gently flatten into a square that's about 1-1½" thick.
- Take a knife or bench cutter and cut straight down in a grid pattern to make 9 biscuits.
- Separate biscuits leaving 1-2 inches between them.
- Place biscuits in the freezer for about 20 minutes to chill and firm. This step is optional but I find it helps give much better rise.
- Remove biscuits after chilling, brush tops with buttermilk.
- Place in the oven on the center rack and bake for about 20-22 minutes. Biscuits will be a rich golden brown when ready.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and serve while warm. Enjoy!
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