Buttermilk Biscuits
Kate Wood's classic buttermilk biscuit recipe is as easy and delicious as it gets.
Makes14 biscuits
I have loads of favorite biscuit recipes, and it was hard to settle on just one to share in my book, Her Daily Bread: Inspired Words and Recipes to Feast on All Year Long. At the end of the day, though, I felt that what everyone needs is a perfect everyday biscuit to serve at home.
This go-to recipe can easily be doubled, and, once baked, can be frozen for enjoying at a later time. To reheat, place frozen biscuits on a sheet pan and lightly cover with a piece of aluminum foil. About 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 350°F will restore the biscuits to their buttery, flaky glory.
If You Make My Buttermilk Biscuits, a Few Tips
- Crumbly dough is OK. Resist the urge to mix your biscuit dough too much; it will make your biscuits tough. What you’re looking for is a crumbly, shaggy dough with pea-size clumps of butter in it.
- Stack the dough for maximum flakiness. In this recipe, I shape the dough into a large rectangle, then cut it into three smaller rectangles and stack them on top of one another. I press or roll the stack into a rectangle, then repeat the cutting and stacking one more time before cutting out the biscuits. This process, called lamination, creates tons of deliciously flaky layers.
- Don’t do the twist. To make sure your biscuits rise high, push your biscuit cutter straight down through the dough without twisting the cutter. Twisting can seal the edges of the dough, which can mean your biscuits won’t climb as high.
- Butter before you bake. Butter is a warm biscuit’s BFF, but a brush of melted butter before the biscuits go into the oven will add shine and flavor to the tops.
Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe
Kate Wood's classic buttermilk biscuit recipe is as easy and delicious as it gets.
Makes 14 biscuits
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups
all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons, divided
- 1 tablespoon
granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons
kosher salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons
baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon
baking soda
- 1 cup
chilled unsalted butter, diced
- 1 cup
chilled buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons
butter, melted, for brushing
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the 2 3/4 cups flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Use a pastry cutter or the backs of two forks to cut in the butter until it is evenly dispersed, with pea-size clumps throughout. Gently stir in the buttermilk until a scrappy dough forms.
Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons flour over a clean work surface and dump the crumbly dough. Gently and quickly work the dough together and pat it out to a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Cut the dough into three equal-size rectangles and stack them on top of one another. Gently press or roll it out again to a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Repeat the cutting and stacking process two more times (this process laminates the dough, making those delicious flaky layers), and then roll it out to 3/4-inch thick. Use a 2 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter to portion out rounds of dough. Flour the cutter well and press down straight, being careful not to twist the cutter at all. Reflour and continue cutting out until all the dough has been used.
Place the biscuits about 1/4 inch apart on the baking sheet. Brush with a bit of the melted butter and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the biscuits have risen and the tops are golden. Allow them to cool slightly before serving.
Recipe Notes
Excerpted from HER DAILY BREAD by Kate Wood, reprinted with permission from HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Copyright 2021.