Our Favorite Buttermilk Biscuit

First of all... wow! best biscuits ever! While I always pack my biscuits closely in the pan, I usually bake them at a lower temperature. Like 375 degrees. I bumped it up to the 475 degrees and was not disappointed. I've always kneaded my dough to get it smooth, but yeah. DUH! the less you handle it the softer it is. The folding method (I'm an intermediate baker) was new to me, but made sense and was easy to do. As much as it seems a little thing, NOT twisting the biscuit cutter made a difference around the edges too. My husband has always loved my biscuits, but he nearly lost his mind over these. To the point of hoarding them to take to work. :)

Now. For the cons. :)
I found I needed a little more buttermilk for the flour. That's just me. My dough was way too dry without it and did not get all the flour mixed into the final product. Also, grating the butter is a marvelous idea. Except, by the time I get the last of it grated, the first part is melted and clumps in the flour. So, for me, I prefer to cut into small slices and cut it in with a pastry cutter. I know they said it's not a good way to do it, but it worked for me and the butter was still cold when I got done.

I'd also like to note -- and this is probably something everyone but me knew -- baking in an aluminum round pan made the bottoms hard. Some people like that, but we prefer the biscuit to be soft all the way around. I switched to baking in a glass dish lined in parchment. Worked GREAT!

All in all, I will never use another recipe to make plain buttermilk biscuits. This is it for me!

I am a first-time buttermilk biscuit maker... and I followed the directions to a t...but when I was mixing in the buttermilk my flour was not sticky and would not come together...I think this was because I measured 2 and a half cups of flour into the sifter then sifted(prob should have sifted then measured) so I had to add extra buttermilk....and the dough got worked more than it should have. That said they still had a rise to them and were crispy and yummy!! I will be making these again! with a lill adjustment of the flour . Do yall think the sifting was the issue ?

Thank you, thank you! This IS your Southern grandmother's recipe! Easy, but really delicious. Trust me, the extra little steps make the difference. This is the same recipe I've always used, but freezing and grating the butter and the rolling method makes these the best, flakiest, lightest biscuits ever!

The recipe is great!  Instead of grating frozen butter, grate cold butter out of the fridge directly into a pyrex bowl and THEN freeze.  So much easier, and your bowl will be cold, too.  Store your flour in a sealed bag in the freezer.  It will last longer and will be COLD for the recipe.  White Lily Self Rising is great, and for those of us that don't live in the south, you can order from Walmart.com.  The biscuits were crunchy on the outside and pillow-soft on the inside.  The best biscuits I ever made!

Do I need to brush milk, cream or egg wash on the tops to get them golden brown?

These are, hands down, the easiest and best biscuits out there.  I found grating the frozen butter too messy, so I just cut it into the dry ingredients the old fashioned way.  Still turned out fabulous.  This is my go-to recipe now!

I had the same problem. Simply add small splashes of buttermilk in until the mix comes together. Be sure not to add too much though, or your dough will become soppy! 

Made my own self-rising flour using AP flour. Soured milk I had in the fridge.

Followed the directions for mixing and rolling. Put the cut biscuits back in the freezer for 10 min before I baked them to be sure they were cold. WOW!

Even the ones from the re-rolled scraps rose!

I'm giving up my old biscuit recipe that I've been making for 35 years for this one. You'll be thinking of new meals to make just to serve these again. In a hurry, just slice into squares. Freezing worked great too.

With a convection oven, I bake at 425 for 10 minutes.  475 is too high a temp in my opinion.  Overworking the biscuits could cause them to not rise. 

Followed recipe precisely!

I made this biscuit this morning for breakfast and it turned out to be the BEST biscuit I've ever had! Better than KFC's! Besides, it's quick and simple to put together. Thanks so much for sharing!

First off, I tried with a few different brands of SR flour including King Arthur and Gold Medal before I was able to get my hands on some White Lily. If you can get White Lily then do it, it's worth the effort. I live in Louisiana, and they didn't have it in my area. luckily went to the beach this week in Fla, and picked some up at the Publix. I used my previous tries with the other brands to come to the conclusion that adding a tsp of salt and a tsp of sugar really ups the flavor ante, and I decreased the oven temp to 450 - I think they like a hot oven, but 475 rushes them a bit if you ask me. As for time, as my mom always said, "let them cook until they are ready"...baking times are simply guidlines. I think the best batch I made went 13 min at 450 - brown on top, brown on bottom and very tasty. Don't cut corners on rolling out and folding over and repeating - 5 times at that has worked very well for the right tenderness and creating layers. I plan on giving it a try as shortbread with the TBL of sugar and cream instead of buttermilk and trying it with some peaches and cream. 

Someone should review the bake time and temp, 475 for 15min?   I have baked once and results were good.  Time/temp made no sense so removed at 8min.  I will try again at 400.  Surprised no one has mentioned cook time.  Used all purpose flour and added 3t baking powder, 1/2t salt, and 1/2t baking soda.

I use a stone baking sheet with no parchment paper to bake mine. Put them on a lower rack in the oven (remember I use a stone to bake) . I do put them on the sheet almost touching. You could lower the oven to 450 but no  ess.

@veloris You can buy powered buttermilk on Amazon.

must use self-rising flour and frozen butter to make this recipe.

very rich biscuit, excellent right out of the oven.  needs to be reheated in oven for best texture.  freezes well.

Use your buttermilk for southern corn bread as well as buttermilk pancakes. Yummy!

Where do you find powdered buttermilk?  I bought a quart for a recipe that only required a cup and put the rest in the freezer.  Hope it works when thawed but what a waste.

I always have butter in the freezer. I never had much luck with biscuits, but these were perfect and delicious. I baked them in a cast iron skillet. Perfect 

Yes, 475 F! Professional bakers use that temperature to MAKE the biscuits rise higher.  One professional I talked to said most people handle the dough too much. Just dust it with flour and go straight into pressing it into a 1/2 inch disk. Be sure to put it on the center rack and do not overcook it. (Just until it is light brown.) True oven temperatures sometimes vary. Watch it to see what time is best for yours. (The professional told me to bake mine 12 minutes, give or take a few.)I use a silver-colored Air Bake cookie sheet instead of a Jelly Roll pan.  You have to be careful taking them out or they will slide off of the pan, but the bottoms don't burn as much. If you use a dark non-stick pan, be sure to lower the baking time.  Dark pans bake hotter and faster.Also, the only time parchment paper has burned for me was when I put too wide of a sheet on my pan and the overhang burnt. I hope this is helpful for you!Staloogin

I've tried many, many biscuit recipes and this one is by far the best. The layers were so flaky and tender. Never thought to grate my butter but I will never go back to my old way again.

Made these twice. I followed the directions exactly. Both times my "dough" does not come together. It remains part dough and part loose crumbs and flour. The second time I used a new bag of flour and fresh buttermilk. I did the 15 strokes and tried to kneed it together. It was a mess. The biscuits I got were good.

Any suggestions?

It took me 3 try's but they finally came out perfect.  I used a large cutting board instead of parchment paper.  I find that when you place them touching each other in the baking pan they rise perfectly.  Hope this works.

I followed the instructions EXACTLY.  I preheated my oven to 475 and I lined my pans with parchment paper.  I baked for 15 minutes and the parchment paper and the bottom of my biscuits BURNED!!!  when I took out my little hockey pucks, I read the info on my parchment paper... oven safe to 420.  So I started to look to see if my paper was an oddity and if others had a higher temperature limit... they do not.  It appears that the limit for all of the different parchment papers that are easily available ranges between 400 and 425.  Did your test kitchen really make THIS recipe as it appears on the website?  I looked at other buttermilk biscuit recipes on-line and found that many bake at 425 and a few at 450 so did you really mean bake at 475???  Also mine were flat and didn't rise very much.  My self rising flour was purchased the day before I made the recipe so it wasn't old.  Is the ridiculously high heat the reason they didn't rise?

A stir is one complete revolution around the bowl with your spatula.  Yes, you need to use real butter instead of margarine. 

We (mother & daughter) tried this yesterday and it didn't turn out quite right. The biscuits tasted A-Maz-ing they just didn't rise like we thought they should. We tried again today. We kneaded everything together in the bowl, and rolled the biscuits into balls with our hands. This seemed not as messy as rolling out on the counter.  MAN, they were as close to our grandmother's as you could possibly get but not her's!!! This will be our "family" recipe from now on and will be handed down! YUMMY!!!! We give way more than 5 stars!!!!!!!

I made these today and they didn't turn out right. I think I rolled the dough to thin and I got confused about the stirring part. Maybe someone can help me with this, what is considered one stir? I know it can't be just 15 times around the bowl because I stored around 15 times and the dough was still on the sides and everything was not mixed together. Oh, and do you have to use butter or can you use a stick of margarine? This might be another reason they didn't turn out right. I will try this again if I can fine out what I did wrong, I only baked 6 biscuits so in going to make chicken and dumplings with the rest.

I also froze the remaining cut, unbaked biscuits. Baked them last weekend - they were just as good!

First, thanks to SouthernBaker for the handy all-purpose to self-rising flour conversion. Very handy for us west coast bakers.

The first time I made these biscuits, I didn't have frozen butter so followed the recipe but used a fork to make a pea sized flour mixture before refrigerating. The second time I used frozen butter and the difference was out of this world! They were lighter, flakier and more tender.

For both recipes, I was lazy and did a sort of 'knead, fold, knead, fold' in the mixing bowl then used a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop out the dough into the baking sheet.

FREEZE THE BUTTER. You will be happy you did.

Great basic recipe. If they don't rise, check the age of your SR flour. Baking powder loses effectiveness very quickly. You can make your own self-rising flour by combining 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt.

SELF RISING FLOUR, folks. 

Not plain!

I have never made a biscuit in my life. Followed the recipe exactly. They are awesome! My wife ( a southern Gal ) said they are even better than hers and her Mom's. I should have maybe kept that quiet.

Donn

These were the best biscuits ever, and the easiest ones I have ever made! Used Gold Medal self-rising flour and powdered buttermilk with water according to directions. Because there are only two of us, we ate half and froze half. We are looking forward to baking them later. Try them, you won't be disappointed.

This is by far the BEST biscuit recipe I've ever tried. I have to admit my first fail with it was quite humorous. They came out flat and swimming in melted butter. I'd completely missed the "self-rising" flour part. Second go around I made my own self-rising flour with 2 1/2 flour, 3 3/4 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. I used soured milk as well, and of course the frozen butter. They came out perfect! Rose so high and had so many layers! Today I hold my head high as a Southerner! Thank you SL!!!

After watching the video twice (very helpful) I made these tasty, tender biscuits. Couldn't find White Lily (I think I'm going to order it online), but used another brand of self-rising flour. I also used buttermilk powder, following directions on the canister. The real secret is the grating of the butter! I can smell and see the butter as they bake. This will be my only biscuit recipe from now on.

Wonderful. This has become my new way to make biscuits.

Very easy to make and my biscuits rose high and had many, many layers. I found this recipe in the magazine and it said to have the biscuits 'touching' on the baking sheet to help them rise - and it worked! Highly recommended

My batch of biscuits were flat. They tasted good, but were a disappointment in that they didn't rise. I didn't have buttermilk so substituted sour milk and this may have been the reason. Will try again with the buttermilk.