Buttermilk Biscuits
The secret to a high-rising biscuit is keeping your ingredients ice-cold and handling the dough as little as possible. By incorporating chilled butter into flour, folding the dough over itself to create layers, and cutting them cleanly, you build the internal structure that creates flaky, distinct tiers in the finished biscuit.
Temperature is the only rule that matters.
Your butter and buttermilk must come straight from the fridge the moment you need them. Warm fat melts too quickly, leaving you with a dense, flat disk instead of a tower of layers.
- large mixing bowl
- pastry cutter or two butter knives
- biscuit cutter
- heavy-duty baking sheet
- parchment paper
What goes in.
- 3 cupsall-purpose flour
- 1 tbspbaking powder
- 1/2 tspbaking soda
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 1/2 cupunsalted butter, frozen and cubed
- 1 1/4 cupscold buttermilk
Creating the layers
Instead of rolling the dough flat once, fold it onto itself like a letter three or four times. This creates microscopic gaps between the butter and flour, which steam and separate during baking.
The method.
Whisk dry
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Ensure the leavening agents are distributed evenly.
Cut in butter
Add the frozen butter cubes. Use your pastry cutter to work them into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some pea-sized chunks of butter remaining.
Hydrate
Pour in the buttermilk. Use a fork to stir just until the shaggy mass starts to clump together; do not overwork it or the dough will become tough.
Fold and layer
Turn the dough onto a floured surface. Gently pat it into a rectangle, fold it in thirds, rotate, and repeat this three times to build the internal structure.
Cut
Pat the dough to one-inch thickness. Push your cutter straight down through the dough; do not twist, as twisting seals the edges and prevents the rise.
Bake
Place biscuits close together on the sheet so their sides touch. Bake at 425°F until the tops are golden brown and the biscuits have sprung up, roughly 18 to 20 minutes.
Other turns to take.
Sharp Cheddar and Chive
Fold in a half-cup of shredded sharp cheddar and two tablespoons of fresh chopped chives just before the final fold.
Black Pepper and Honey
Add one tablespoon of freshly cracked black pepper to the dry ingredients and brush the tops with honey immediately after removing from the oven.
When it doesn't go to plan.
Freeze your butter for at least an hour before you start, or grate it using the large holes of a box grater for easier incorporation.
Place the cut biscuits so they touch on the tray; the support from their neighbors helps them rise upward rather than spreading outward.
If the dough feels soft or sticky, pop the entire tray into the freezer for ten minutes before putting it in the oven.
The ones that keep coming up.
Why did my biscuits turn out flat?
Usually, this happens because the butter melted before the biscuits hit the oven, or the dough was handled too much, which develops gluten and makes the texture bread-like instead of flaky.
Can I use regular milk instead of buttermilk?
Buttermilk's acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the lift. If you must substitute, add a teaspoon of lemon juice to regular milk and let it sit for ten minutes first.
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