When I put out a call for Wednesday Baking suggestions last week, several of you requested a biscuit recipe. I don’t consider myself to be a biscuit-baking-queen (I’m sure there are some Southern cooks who could beat me hands down in a biscuit cook-off!), but I do manage to produce biscuits that please my family’s palates. We had these with dinner last night and there were none left.
The recipe is from an old (1970s!) Better Homes and Gardens bread cookbook that I have, and I’ve adapted it slightly.
One very important thing to keep in mind when baking biscuits is that you do NOT want to mix and knead the dough much at all. If you recall from our lesson on gluten, non-yeast breads are more tender and soft when the gluten is not developed. If you mix and knead biscuit dough with vigor, you will develop lots of gluten and your biscuits will be tough and will not rise properly.
Baking powder is the main leavening in these biscuits, and it is not as powerful as yeast. Yeast can lift a stretchy dough, but baking powder cannot. It also can’t lift a dry, dense dough very well, so you want your biscuit dough to be rather soft.
Don’t be scared, though. Biscuit baking really isn’t that complicated. Here’s how to go about it.
Mix some flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar together thoroughly. Gluten only develops when flour gets wet, so mix with abandon at this point. 
If you don’t like sweet biscuits, you can feel free to leave out the sugar completely.
Then cut up 1/3 cup of cold butter into chunks,
and using a pastry blender, mix the butter into the dry ingredients. After you mix in the butter, there should just be little pebble-like bits of butter in the flour. These will melt during cooking, creating nice little air pockets in the biscuits.
Gently stir in the buttermilk. Though the recipe calls for 3/4 cup, I usually find I need a bit more than that to moisten all the flour.
Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface,
and knead a few times, just to get the dough to all hold together.
Pat the dough to about 1/2-inch thickness.
Cut with a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, dipping the cutter into the flour between biscuits. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
A sharp biscuit cutter will help your biscuits to be a little more fluffy. A dull cutter sort of squishes the dough when you cut out the biscuits. Also, dipping the cutter into flour in between biscuits will help to prevent sticking and squishing.
I have a delightfully sharp one that I got it a set at Christmas a few years ago. Isn’t it pretty?
You’ll have some scraps left after cutting the biscuits, and you can gently pat those together in order to cut more biscuits. These will be a bit tougher because of the extra handling, but no one at my house seems to mind terribly.
Bake the biscuits at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Buttermilk Biscuits (makes 8-10)
2 cups all-purpose flour (you can sub 1/2 cup whole wheat flour if you like)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup butter (the recipe calls for shortening, but I like butter better!)
3/4 cup buttermilk, plus a bit more if necessary
Mix dry ingredients together thoroughly. Cut butter into chunks, and using a pastry blender, cut into flour until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gently stir in the 3/4 cup buttermilk, adding a little bit more if necessary to hold dough together. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.
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I use almost the exact same recipe, except I use 2 cups of self-rising flour (I purchase it at the farmer’s market down the street, but White Lily s.r.f. works just as well) and omit the baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. I cut the butter in with two sharp knives and incorporate the buttermilk using my hands, then knead just 2-3 times before cutting the biscuits out.
Here’s a tip-I usually make a double batch, and freeze the leftover biscuits-they re-heat in a 350 degree oven very well. Having frozen biscuits on hand makes breakfast time so much easier.
These are so easy to make, and have such an impact-nothing seems to satisfy as well as a home-made biscuit. All my boys LOVE them!!!
These look delicious…I’m horrible at making biscuits! I will have to try these very soon!
‘Biscuit’ in New Zealand means ‘cookie’ to you guys, so this is interesting.
Being married to a man born in the States, though, meant I at least knew about the difference. I’ll have to try these at some point. Hubergal mentions eating them at breakfast – I thought one ate them with gravy? What did you serve these with?
(ha, a funny thought struck me that you must have washed your hands about 10 times during making these to be able to take photos without getting your lovely camera full of flour/dough!)
LOL Franci! We eat them with butter at dinnertime, but they are sometimes eaten at breakfast with sausage and gravy. Butter and jelly is good on biscuits at breakfast too.
And yep, I wash my hands a bazillion times while cooking in order to take pictures. It makes the recipe take at least twice as long. I also put my camera in its bag in between shots so as not to sprinkle flour on it.
As a good Southern cook I don’t make either biscuits or cornbread with sugar. Here is my Buttermilk Biscuit Receipt.
2 cups all purpose flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp. real, unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk, preferably Bulgarian (only it takes another tablespoon or two more than one cup)
Use your directions as per above. Once you have them on the baking pan (squished up side by side in my case) spoon about a quarter teaspoon of buttermilk onto the tops right before baking. Bake 12-15 minutes at 450ยบ.
Carla, I knew some Southern cook would call me on the sugar thing! The original recipe doesn’t have sugar, but I added it because I like the slight sweetness it adds.
I’m not from the south, though! lol
Sausage and gravy for *breakfast*???!! That sounds gross! Only in America…
Yeah, I can’t really stomach meat at breakfast, even breakfast sausage and bacon. Gravy doesn’t seem like a breakfast food to me either, but it is popular in the south.
I believe these are what we call scones – traditionally eaten with clotted cream and strawberry jam and accompanied by a pot of tea. They look lovely and light.
I just found flour on sale 5 lbs/$.99 at the local grocery store. I am going to stock up and give some of your recipes a try. I can’t wait!
Those look good! I have a yummy Buttermilk Bicuit recipe on my blog as well. Love me some good biscuits!