Southern Buttermilk Biscuits

  • Yield:9 servings / 9
  • Time:
    15 mins show details

These are simply the best biscuits I've had once you get the technique down. It can be tricky so don't give up on the first try and follow all the tips for a great rise!

Tags: American, side dish, salty, bread, baked goods

Ingredients

  • 2 cups
    All Purpose Flour, sifted, soft wheat flour like White Lily works marginally better
  • 1 tablespoon
    Baking Powder
  • 1½ teaspoons
    Baking Soda
  • 1 teaspoon
    salt
  • 57 grams
    cold unsalted butter, as cold as possible, if using salted, reduce salt above to 1/2 tsp
  • 1 cup
    buttermilk, if using plain whole milk replace baking soda with equal amount of baking powder
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Equipment

  • biscuit cutter, VERY IMPORTANT DON'T USE A GLASS

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Preparation

  1. 1. Thoroughly combine flour, salt and leavening in a suitably capacious mixing bowl.

  2. 2. Cut your shortening somewhat finely into that, until you are left with a mostly coarse-looking mixture, but with some unincorporated pea-sized chunks of fat.

  3. 3. Dump in your milk, and incorporate gently but thoroughly. Your aim is to mix until there is no dry flour left hiding anywhere, and then STOP.

  4. 4. Flour your work surface well, and turn out the dough. Flour your hands, and very gently knead the dough 3 or 4 times. You want the bare minimum of flour added and the bare minimum of kneading... just get it to where it starts to come together and is just becoming handleable, then gently pat it out to a 1" thick pad.

  5. 5. Reflour underneath, flour a rolling pin, and roll it out to about 0.25". Fold it into thirds along one axis, and then fold it in half along the other. Repeat step five once.

  6. 6. After the second course of folding, pat it out to your desired final thickness. I usually settle on a pad of dough about 0.75" thick, which (if all goes well) results in a 2+" thick baked biscuit.

  7. 7. Using a proper biscuit cutter, cut out your biscuits. When you've cut all you can on the first round, regather your dough, press it back out into a pad, and cut a couple more. When you're left with scraps, mush those together into the one or two ugly ones that are the hallmark of a batch of homemade biscuits.

  8. 15 mins

    8. Place your rounds on a suitable buttered skillet or sheet (I get the best bottom crust with cast iron), being sure they crowd one another, as this encourages them to spread up and not out. Brush the tops with milk, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

Notes

It was a lot of practice before I made biscuits that rose well. Many a batch would have worked as hockey pucks. In the pursuit of loftiness, here are the things I mind well:

Wetter is better. After bringing the dough together, add as little additional flour as possible.

As for the rolling and folding... I've A/Bed it many times, and I get a better rise and final texture by doing a light lamination (a few folds of the dough). It makes a flakier biscuit.

When you go to cut them, use a proper biscuit cutter, straight in, straight out, no twisting. If you don't have a biscuit cutter, use a sharp knife and make them into squares. Some folks prefer this method as you cut all of the dough into shape in one pass. Whatever you do, DON'T use a water or wine glass. That will leave you with hockey pucks.

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