An ode to a time-honored Southern tradition and a complete guide on how to make easy buttermilk biscuits from scratch; these biscuits are extra delicious with a super tender and golden buttery crumb.
What comes to your mind when you think about biscuits?
For me, I think about how biscuits were of cultural significance when it came to cooking in the South. Biscuits were, and still are, a staple in Southern cooking. The ingredients are few and the labor is typically non-extensive. If you pick up almost any cookbook from a Black author, you will most surely find a recipe for buttermilk biscuits. One thing I love about biscuit making is no matter the ways in which one makes their biscuits, the foundation is often the same: flour, a type of fat, buttermilk, and tons of love.
I’ve been making buttermilk biscuits for a while now and have developed a recipe that I personally love. Before I ever made homemade biscuits I used to be very intimidated by them. There was something about the making of dough and rolling out the dough that made me think buttermilk biscuits were challenging. In addition, it didn’t help that I always seemed to have had an image of a pleasantly plump older Black woman (that’s not me lol) with loads of biscuit making experience in my head either, ha!
But alas, I’m here to tell you that making homemade buttermilk biscuits is easy, fun, and so dang good. With just a little extra care and attention, I have this feeling that you will be making biscuits left and right. Within this blog post below, I made sure to include some step-by-step process shots (that Mom was kind enough to assist me with ♥️) to help you in being the biscuit-making boss that I already know you are babe. Hope you all enjoy this one, now let’s get started!
The Anatomy of Buttermilk Biscuits:
- Flour: There are usually two types of flour that most people use when making biscuits. Most notably, there is traditional all-purpose flour and self-rising flour. Regular all-purpose flour is a basic type of flour with no added agents in it which causes the need for either baking soda/baking powder to be added to the recipe so the biscuits can rise beautifully, amen. Self-rising flour already has salt and a leavening agent added to it as opposed to all-purpose flour. Thus, by using self-rising flour, a leavening agent is typically not needed. My absolute favorite type of flour is by White Lily. This particular brand is considered a Southern staple in flour and usually found in Southern-residing states. If you live outside of the South, you can also find this brand online. White Lily is milled from soft winter wheat and contains fewer grams of protein which subsequently reduces the amount of gluten in your biscuits.
- Fat: It varies on the type of fat you could use for buttermilk biscuits. For example, there is shortening, lard, coconut oil, and much more but here at Butter Be Ready, we’ll use an all butter base because mo’ butta, mo’ butta, baby! Seriously speaking though, using all butter truly does yield a phenomenally tasty biscuit.
- Buttermilk: Obvi we’re making buttermilk biscuits so not much to explain here. However, buttermilk tends to give off some confusing vibes because contrary to its name, buttermilk does not contain any butter nor is it high in fat, like one would think due to its texture in comparison to regular milk.
A Few Notes On Buttermilk Biscuits:
- It is incredibly important to make sure that the butter and buttermilk are completely cold. The temperature of your hands can cause the butter to melt and we want nice flecks of butter throughout the dough.
- The butter should be grated using a box grater (or food processor if you have one). This process ensures that the butter is finely grated and can be easily mixed into the flour. You can use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour but I prefer to use my hands because I like to feel the texture as I go.
- To make sure that you don’t handle the dough too much with your hands, using a spatula helps to combine the ingredients. Overworking the dough too much will make the biscuits tough and heavy. A good rule of thumb to avoid this is to stop working the dough once you see everything is combined.
- Placing the biscuits into the freezer for a few minutes is a great way to make sure that the butter gets super cold again before placing into the hot oven. When the cold butter enters the hot oven, it immediately melts and creates steam which helps the overall flakiness of the biscuits.
Additional Notes:
- When rolling out the dough, be sure to lightly flour your work area surface. Similarly, be careful not to use too much extra flour.
- Folding the dough, like you would a blanket, helps with making sure those buttermilk biscuits have nice layers and depth throughout. You want to fold the dough and roll it out at least 5 times.
- Start in the center and then roll backwards when rolling out the dough. Repeat in the center and then roll forward.
- Dip your biscuit cutter into some flour before cutting the biscuits out.
- A note on cutting out your biscuits, don’t twist your biscuit cutter- instead just punch straight down and out. Twisting the cutter pinches the edges of the biscuit and will cause an issue for the biscuits to rise.
Homemade buttermilk biscuits can be a little overwhelming and intimidating, I get it. Though, it’s important to not overthink the process and just go with the flow of it all. With repetition and great ingredients, buttermilk biscuits can be a breeze, I promise.
If you’re a fan of Southern-inspired recipes, like me, be sure to check out my baked mac ‘n cheese and skillet cornbread, too!
Lastly, there is no shortage of toppings than can accompany buttermilk biscuits. Some of my favorites include, salted butter, cane syrup, strawberry jelly, honey, and blueberry jam. Yummmmmmm 🤤
Until next time, friends!
How To Make Easy Buttermilk Biscuits
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 18-20 biscuits 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
An ode to a time-honored Southern tradition and a complete guide on how to make easy buttermilk biscuits from scratch; these biscuits are extra delicious with a super tender and golden buttery crumb.
Ingredients
- 4 cups White Lily or another Southern self-rising flour, plus more for work surface area
- 1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) very cold salted butter, grated
- 2 cups whole buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and sugar. Using a pastry cutter or your hands, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal. Add the buttermilk into the bowl and stir with a spatula until just combined. Be careful here to not over mix.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface area. Knead the dough lightly by using the heels of your hands to compress the dough and fold it over itself. Turn the dough as you go about 5-6 times.
- Lightly flour your rolling pin and roll dough out about 1/2-inch thick. Using a 2-inch round cutter, dip your biscuit cutter into some flour and cut out biscuits. Do not twist cutter, press the cutter straight into and out of the dough so biscuits will rise evenly.
- Place the biscuits close together onto prepared baking sheet. When the biscuits are touching each other, this helps them rise together and prevents the sides from being too dry/crisp. Place biscuits into the freezer for about 15 minutes to ensure everything gets super cold again.
- Bake biscuits until golden brown, about 10-15 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve warm with your favorite jams, jellies, syrups, or more butter.
Notes
This recipe can easily be halved to make less biscuits.
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: Southern
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