Buttermilk Biscuits

4.0
(167)

They're tender, flaky, and so easy to pull off with Martha's recipe.

Buttermilk Biscuits
8:14
Prep Time:
15 mins
Cook Time:
20 mins
Total Time:
35 mins
Servings:
12

decorvow’s biscuit recipe is easy to memorize—and it's so good that you’ll want to make it every chance you get. The ingredients are simple—just basic dry ingredients, butter, and buttermilk—and pulling them together is a breeze. Big, cold chunks of butter dispersed throughout the dough is key to the recipe’s unbelievably tender and flaky texture. We recommend using a pastry cutter to work in the butter rather than your fingers, which can melt the fat. Serve these heavenly bites with butter and jam for breakfast or alongside a glazed ham for an unforgettable holiday meal.

How to Measure Flour the Right Way, According to Bakers
A plate of buttermilk biscuits displayed on a cloth

Jacob Fox

Dos and Don'ts for Ultra-Tender Biscuits

Do keep your butter cold: Cold butter is key to these biscuits' flaky texture. To keep it from melting as you make the dough, remove it from the refrigerator just before you're ready to use it, and lean on a pastry cutter or two knives, rather than your fingers, to work it into the dry ingredients.

Don't overwork the dough: Fold in the buttermilk just until the flour is thoroughly moistened and the mixture comes together. Even if it seems too sticky, don't be tempted to keep mixing or you'll risk ending up with tough, dense biscuits. (A shaggy, lumpy dough with plenty of large chunks of butter is the goal here.)

Don't twist your cutter: When forming the biscuits, press the cutter down firmly, then pull it up without twisting. Twisting can seal the edges, impacting the biscuits' ability to rise in the oven.

Making a Buttermilk Substitute for This Recipe

Acidic buttermilk reacts with the baking soda to create impossibly light biscuits. If you don't have any on hand, you can make a quick substitute using milk and a mild-flavored acid like lemon juice or white vinegar. Here's how:

  1. Add 1 tablespoon plus 2 1/4 teaspoons vinegar to a large liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to reach the 1 3/4 cup mark.
  2. Stir, then let sit for about 5 minutes, or until milk looks curdled, before using.

How to Make Biscuits Ahead

Dough can be cut and frozen, then baked at a later date. Place biscuits on a baking sheet and freeze until very firm, 1 to 2 hours; transfer to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Tack on a few minutes of baking time for frozen biscuits.

Directions

Ingredients arranged for making buttermilk biscuits including flour butter buttermilk and small bowls with other ingredients

Jacob Fox

  1. Preheat oven; whisk dry ingredients and cut in butter:

    Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few large clumps remaining.

    A bowl with flour and a pastry cutter placed inside

    Jacob Fox

  2. Add buttermilk:

    Pour in the buttermilk; using a rubber spatula, fold buttermilk into the dough, working in all directions and incorporating crumbs at the bottom of the bowl, until the dough just comes together.

    A hand mixing dry and wet ingredients in a glass bowl using a spatula preparation of dough

    Jacob Fox

    The dough will be slightly sticky; do not overmix.

  3. Pat dough into round and cut out biscuits:

    Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With floured fingers, gently pat the dough into a round about 1 inch thick, pressing in any loose bits—do not overwork the dough. Use a floured 2 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits as close together as possible. (Use one cut edge as the edge for the next biscuit.)

    Dough rolled out with biscuit shapes cut out metal cutter nearby

    Jacob Fox

  4. Brush biscuits with buttermilk and bake:

    Place the biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart on an unlined baking sheet. Generously brush the tops of biscuits with buttermilk. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until the biscuits are golden and flecked with brown spots, 18 to 22 minutes. Transfer biscuits to a wire rack to cool.

    A baking tray with evenly spaced unbaked biscuits a hand brushing one biscuit with liquid using a pastry brush

    Jacob Fox
    A cooling rack holding evenly spaced baked buttermilk biscuits

    Jacob Fox