Buttermilk Biscuits

Name: Buttermilk Biscuits
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 4 ¾ Cups, Plus 2 Tablespoons All-Purpose Flour; 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch (); 8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Cold ((1 Stick) - Cut into ¼-inch Cubes); 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder (); 1 Tablespoon Fine sea salt (); 1 ¾ Cups Buttermilk (); ¼ Cup Heavy Cream (); 3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter (Melted (For Brushing Biscuit Tops))

Modified: May 6, 2024 · Published: Jul 31, 2023 by Spencer Klickman · This post may contain affiliate links · 2 Comments

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If you've never had the pleasure of experiencing fresh, homemade Buttermilk Biscuits first thing in the morning, you're completely missing out! These are buttery, flaky, delicious, and the ideal delivery device for pretty much all jams, jellies, honey, or just plain butter.

These are also perfect for sausage or bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches. But my absolute favorite way of serving these is to smother them with my recipe for Country Style Sausage Gravy while they're still steaming hot to make the Ultimate Biscuits and Gravy!

These biscuits aren't limited to breakfast or brunch alone! Fold in some cheddar cheese and jalapenos for a spicy, savory side dish for almost any dinner. You could even swap the brioche buns in my Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich recipe for these biscuits (not to mention you'll already have buttermilk on hand too!).

Biscuit Ingredients

These biscuits use some very straight-forward and simple ingredients. The most important part of this recipe is cutting the all-purpose flour with a small amount of corn starch. This helps lower the amount of available protein in the flour. The lower the protein amount, the less gluten will form. The less gluten that forms, the lighter and more tender your biscuits will be. The complete list of ingredients is listed below.

All-Purpose Flour
Corn Starch
Cold, Unsalted Butter
Baking Powder
Kosher Salt
Buttermilk
Heavy Cream

Instructions

The process of mixing and shaping your dough is actually more important than the ingredients used. The crucial part of making this recipe is to not overwork the dough when adding the buttermilk. This will cause the biscuits to be very dense, chewy, and rock-hard. There's a bit of science that goes into this, but essentially, this happens because overmixing or stirring causes more gluten to form in the dough. More gluten = more texture, and more texture = dense biscuits, which is not what we're after.

To combat this, you add the buttermilk last and quickly, but gently, work the dough together. I have outlined the complete process below:

To begin, sift together the flour, salt, and corn starch in a large mixing bowl.
Add the cold, unsalted butter to the flour mixture by cubing it, then smearing the pieces into the flour with your fingers and thumbs.
Once the butter is thoroughly mixed in, add the buttermilk and heavy cream and gently combine with a rubber spatula until a shaggy dough forms.
Gently fold the dough over itself several times, kneading together until the dough just begins to become smooth. This should only take about a minute or two. (The dough should be fairly smooth, but you should still see individual pieces of butter dotted through the dough.)
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently roll it into a flat disc that is about ¾-inch thick.
Cut the dough into individual biscuit shapes, then transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. (I like to use a biscuit cutter, egg ring mold or the top of a pint glass or mug as a cutter to get approximately 3-inch-wide biscuits.)
Pro Tip: Place the biscuits close together on the baking sheet, but not touching. This helps them rise better and keeps the sides from getting crisp. If you want a crispier biscuit, space them out on the baking sheet.
Brush with melted butter, then bake for 18 to 20 minutes at 450°F until the biscuits begin to brown.
Transfer to a large bowl lined with a kitchen towel and cover

Pro-tip: Reheat leftover biscuits by wrapping them in tin foil and baking at 350°F for 8 to 10 minutes until soft.

Buttermilk Biscuit How To:

1. Sift the dry ingredients together.
2. Add cold butter by smearing it into the flour mixture with your fingers.
3. Add the buttermilk and heavy cream.
4. Gently combine until a shaggy dough forms.
5. Knead the dough several times onto itself to create layers to further combine it.
6. Continue to knead until a smooth dough forms. (This should take only a minute or two by hand.)
7. Turn the dough onto a floured work surface, and roll out to until it's about ¾ to 1-inch thick.
8. The dough should be combined and smooth, but still be slightly shaggy. You should see streaks of butter dotted through the dough.
9. Use an egg ring or the top of a pint glass to cut biscuits.
10. Place on a greased baking sheet. (I have since updated this to use a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. I have found that to be an easier and cleaner option.)
11. Brush with melted butter right before baking.
12. Finished Biscuits

Mixing the dough by hand versus using a stand mixer is another key to knowing when the dough is ready. It really helps you get a feel for when the dough is just right. When you use a stand mixer, you're more likely to just go by sight, and there's a tendency to overwork the dough. It may take one or two times to get a feel for things, so even if they don't turn out perfect the first try, I can almost guarantee you will end up with better results the second time around. It took me several attempts to nail this process down, but it has been absolutely worth it to stick with it!