The first time I ever made buttermilk biscuits, I wanted to impress someone who I thought was kind of special. Why I decided to try when I had no idea how to make buttermilk biscuits is beyond me.
I mixed the ingredients and rolled out the dough, anxious about how thick or thin to make the biscuits. Imagine my surprise when I opened to oven to find flat, cracker-looking biscuits!
Can you imagine? A southern-born and bred girl who could not make buttermilk biscuits. I was not deterred and labeled them as a new recipe that I called “Biscuit Flats.” It is a day forever etched in my mind. So embarrassing!
A lot has changed since that day 15 years ago, and I am proud to say that I have earned my Southerners badge for mastering perfect buttermilk biscuits.
Cooks tips:
- Use real buttermilk. Souring milk with vinegar just will not have the same texture.
- Do not over-stir your batter. Just mix until moistened. The dough will be very wet.
- Fold the dough and fold some more. I think I fold my dough about ten times. Each time you fold and gently pat down, you add a layer of air to make those beautiful buttermilk biscuits rise.
Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for dusting the counter
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter very cold but cubed
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons melted butter if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Using a whisk, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- With your hands or pastry blender (recommended to start to avoid melting the butter), work the butter into the flour mixture until the flour resembled the texture of coarse sand. Use you hand to mix any remaining lumps.
- Create a well in the flour mixture and add the buttermilk. Mix together with a large spoon until moistened. The dough will be very wet and sticky. If not, you may need to add a tablespoon more of buttermilk.
- Turn the dough out onto a well – read WELL – floured surface and dust with additional flour. Work the dough by folding the sides over and turning, patting after each rotation. Add a little flour as needed to keep it from sticking to the counter. Folding is essential to add air between the layers of the biscuit so fold several times until the surface is smooth.
- Pat out to about 1/2 inch thickness. The biscuits can be a little thicker if you desire. Then cut into circles using a biscuit cutter.
- Place on a baking stone or cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden on top. Brush with melted butter if desired.
I’m going to try to make this, even though I’ve never even eaten a buttermilk biscuit before. They look like little English muffins! And seems like a quick recipe to whip up. So there is no kneading just folding?
Their texture & taste is not like English muffins. No kneading is because there is no “yeast”. In The South, we use the term “quick breads”.
These biscuit turned out perfect even though it is my first time ever making biscuits at all. Because I didn’t have buttermilk I had to use the soured milk with vinegar and they did turn out a bit flatter and had a weird texture but they were still delicious and wee gone by the time I came back to the kitchen. Awesome recipe!
I make Southern Biscuits my mother taught me to make. I never add oil or butter to the dough! Bacon grease in the bottom of the pan, to dip and turn the biscuits, is all you need. And I never use baking soda! Only 3 heaping tsp of BP! Add salt to dry mixture. Mix 1 cup of liquid to 2 cups flour. Turn out on floured counter top and knead a few times or turn until you can touch the dough without it sticking. Cut with an empty vienna sausage can that has holes punched in one end. Turn each biscuit over in the Bacon Grease and bake about 25 minutes at 475-500°. People think I buy them. You can use water instead of milk too.
I made these exactly as written. They were delicious with my sauce gravy would not change a thing but maybe the time because no two ovens are the same. Mine need less time. Maybe ten instead of twelve. Thankyou for the story and the recipe.
Not bad. I usually do sourdough biscuits but I had a carton of buttermilk to get rid of so I tried these to go with my buttermilk chicken strips. Not quite as tangy or buttery as I like but the texture was good.