Start your morning off deliciously with these flaky buttermilk biscuits! Whether you top them with butter and jam, honey and bananas, or sausage gravy, these are a huge hit!
It’s funny that so many people think biscuits are intimidating to make. They don’t have to be perfectly shaped, and you don’t need a significant amount of rising time. There is no rising time.
You have to mix, fold, turn, fold, and cut, essentially. They are so simple and only require a few ingredients; however, they taste amazing and can either be eaten stand alone or as a vessel for other stuff. I love, love, LOVE sausage gravy over biscuits however that stuff is just lethal to my thighs and butt.
Biscuits are simple, but there are a few tricks to making them.
Never, never, NEVER as you are cutting them… TWIST! No, don’t. Push straight down and cut. Twisting is bad. Twisting binds the edges and doesn’t allow them to rise properly while baking.
That simple twist movement presses the edges of the dough together, creating tiny seals that prohibit the dough from rising to its maximum flaky peak. Instead, gently press the cutter straight down.
The sides of the dough will have slightly ragged edges that allow for those luscious layers to form as the dough rises
Seriously, if you got up an extra 30 minutes early on a weekend (yeah, I know, that’s asking a lot), you could have these warm luscious biscuits along with your favorite breakfast foods. For me, give me a dippy egg, some bacon, and a hot buttered biscuit covered in jam.
How do you top your biscuits? Gravy? Butter? Jam? Maybe you make a breakfast sammich out of them with a sausage patty, fried egg, and slice of cheese.
Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe
Start your morning deliciously with these flaky buttermilk biscuits! Whether you top them with butter and jam, honey and bananas, or sausage gravy, they are a huge hit!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: ~9-12 biscuits
- Category: baking, biscuits, breads, brunch
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: baking, biscuits, breads, brunch
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus additional flour for the work surface
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 tablespoon vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
- 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold, lightly floured, and cut into 1/8-inch slices
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
- 1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk, cold
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position; heat the oven to 450 degrees. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add the shortening to the flour mixture. Use a Pastry Cutter to cut the shortening into little pea-sized chunks. Add the butter slices to the flour mixture and toss to coat. Use a Pastry Cutter to cut the butter into little pea-sized chunks.
- Freeze the mixture (in the bowl) until chilled, about 15 minutes.
- Add all but 2 tablespoons of buttermilk to flour mixture. Stir briskly with a fork until a ball forms and no dry bits of flour are visible, adding the remaining buttermilk as needed (the dough will be sticky and shaggy but should clear the sides of the bowl).
- With a rubber spatula, transfer the dough to the center of the prepared work surface, dust the surface lightly with flour, and, with floured hands, bring the dough together into a cohesive ball. Pat dough into an approximate 10-inch square; roll into an 18 by 14-inch rectangle about 1/4 inch thick, dusting the dough and rolling pin with flour as needed. Fold the dough into thirds using a Bench Scraper, brushing any excess flour from the surface.
- Lift the short end of the dough and fold in thirds again to form an approximate 6 by 4-inch rectangle. You are lamenting the dough, which will create the flaky layers. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, dusting the work surface underneath with flour. Roll and fold the dough again, dusting it with flour as needed.
- Roll the dough into a 10-inch square about 1/2 inch thick; flip the dough and cut nine 3-inch rounds with a floured biscuit cutter, dipping the cutter back into flour after each cut. Do not twist!
- Carefully invert and transfer rounds to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spaced 1 inch apart. Gather dough scraps into a ball; roll and fold once or twice until scraps form smooth dough. Roll the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick round; cut three more 3-inch rounds and transfer to a baking sheet. Discard excess dough. Brush biscuit tops with melted butter.
- Bake without opening oven door until tops are golden brown and crisp, 15 to 17 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
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