Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

These homemade buttermilk biscuits are flaky, tender, and absolutely delicious every single time. The homemade buttermilk biscuits recipe uses simple ingredients to create bakery-quality results at home. With tall, fluffy layers and a golden-brown top, these biscuits melt in your mouth. Perfect for breakfast, dinner, or anytime you crave warm, buttery comfort food.

What Makes Buttermilk Biscuits Special

The Role of Buttermilk

Buttermilk is the secret ingredient that makes these biscuits incredibly tender and flavorful. The acidity in buttermilk reacts with baking soda to create lift and fluffiness. This reaction produces carbon dioxide bubbles that make the biscuits rise beautifully. Buttermilk also adds a subtle tangy flavor that balances the richness of butter.

The acid in buttermilk tenderizes the gluten in flour, creating soft texture throughout. This prevents biscuits from becoming tough or dense like bread rolls might. Buttermilk keeps biscuits moist for hours after baking without drying out quickly. The combination of buttermilk and cold butter creates the perfect flaky layers.

Cold Butter is Essential

Using very cold butter is crucial for creating those signature flaky layers. Cold butter doesn’t fully incorporate into the flour when mixed or cut in. Instead, it stays in small pieces that create pockets of steam during baking. These steam pockets lift the dough and create beautiful, distinct layers throughout.

Room temperature or melted butter won’t create the same flaky texture at all. The butter needs to stay cold until the biscuits go into the oven. Some bakers even freeze their butter and grate it into the flour mixture. This technique ensures the butter stays cold and distributes evenly throughout the dough.

Why These Biscuits Rise So Tall

The height of these biscuits comes from proper layering and handling of dough. Folding the dough over itself creates multiple thin layers stacked on top. Each layer separates during baking, creating that tall, impressive height everyone loves. Using enough leavening agents like baking powder and baking soda helps too.

Cutting biscuits with a sharp cutter without twisting is also important for height. Twisting the cutter seals the edges and prevents them from rising properly. Press straight down and lift straight up for clean cuts that rise evenly. Placing biscuits close together on the pan encourages them to rise up instead of spreading out.

Ingredients for Perfect Biscuits

Flour Selection

All-purpose flour works perfectly for tender, flaky buttermilk biscuits at home. Some bakers prefer self-rising flour, which already contains baking powder and salt. If using self-rising flour, skip the baking powder and salt in the recipe. Southern-style biscuits often use soft wheat flour like White Lily for extra tenderness.

Measure flour correctly by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling off. Scooping directly from the bag packs too much flour into the cup. Too much flour makes biscuits dry and tough instead of tender and light. A kitchen scale provides the most accurate flour measurements for consistent results.

Leavening Agents

Both baking powder and baking soda work together to make biscuits rise properly. Baking powder provides most of the lift and helps biscuits rise tall. Baking soda reacts with the acidic buttermilk to create additional rise and tenderness. Using both creates the best texture and height in the finished biscuits.

Make sure baking powder and baking soda are fresh and not expired completely. Old leavening agents lose their power and won’t make biscuits rise properly. Test baking powder by mixing it with hot water to see if it fizzes. If it doesn’t bubble vigorously, it’s time to buy a fresh container.

The Fat Component

Cold butter is the traditional choice for rich, flavorful buttermilk biscuits at home. European-style butter with higher fat content creates even flakier layers throughout. Some recipes use shortening or lard for extra flakiness, though flavor suffers slightly. A combination of butter and shortening provides both flavor and maximum flakiness.

Cut butter into small cubes and keep refrigerated until ready to use it. Some bakers freeze butter cubes for 10 minutes before cutting into flour. The colder the butter stays, the flakier the biscuits will turn out. Work quickly to prevent body heat from warming the butter too much.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Preparing Your Workspace

Start by gathering all ingredients and measuring them out before beginning anything. Preheat the oven to 450°F so it’s ready when the biscuits are. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or leave it ungreased for use. Keep butter in the refrigerator until the exact moment it’s needed for cutting.

Chill a large mixing bowl in the freezer for 10 minutes if possible. A cold bowl helps keep the butter cold during the mixing process. Have a biscuit cutter ready, or use a drinking glass with sharp edges. A pastry blender or two knives work for cutting butter into flour.

Mixing the Dry Ingredients

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in the bowl. Whisking for at least 30 seconds ensures everything is evenly distributed throughout. This step prevents pockets of leavening that could cause uneven rising during baking. Some bakers sift the dry ingredients for even lighter, fluffier biscuits.

Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients to hold butter. This technique helps distribute butter more evenly as it’s cut in. Make sure the well is deep enough to hold all the butter pieces. Keep the flour mixture as cool as possible before adding the cold butter.

Cutting in the Butter

Add cold butter cubes to the flour mixture all at once quickly. Use a pastry blender, two knives, or your fingertips to cut butter in. Work quickly with light touches to keep the butter from warming up. The goal is pea-sized pieces of butter coated with flour throughout the mixture.

Some larger pieces of butter are fine and will create extra flaky layers. The mixture should look crumbly and feel sandy with visible butter pieces throughout. Don’t overwork it or the butter will melt and ruin the texture. This step should take only 2-3 minutes of quick, efficient work.

Adding the Buttermilk

Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture again for liquid. Pour cold buttermilk into the well all at once, not gradually or slowly. Use a fork or wooden spoon to stir gently just until dough comes together. The dough will look shaggy and rough, which is exactly what you want.

Don’t overmix or the biscuits will be tough instead of tender and flaky. A few dry spots are fine since the dough gets worked more later. Overmixing develops gluten, which makes biscuits dense and bread-like instead of flaky. Stop mixing as soon as the dough holds together when pressed lightly.

Folding and Layering

Turn the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured surface or counter. Pat or roll the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick gently. Fold the dough in half, then fold in half again perpendicular to create layers. Pat or roll back to 1 inch thickness and repeat folding 2-3 times.

This folding technique creates those beautiful flaky layers everyone loves in biscuits. Each fold creates multiple thin layers that separate during baking beautifully. Don’t skip this step as it’s what makes homemade biscuits better than store-bought. Work quickly and handle the dough gently to keep butter cold throughout.

Cutting the Biscuits

Pat or roll the dough to about 3/4 to 1 inch thickness for tall biscuits. Dip a 2 or 3-inch biscuit cutter in flour before each cut. Press straight down without twisting to cut clean circles that will rise evenly. Twisting the cutter seals the edges and prevents proper rising during baking.

Place cut biscuits on the prepared baking sheet touching each other if possible. Touching sides help biscuits rise upward instead of spreading outward for maximum height. Gather scraps gently, pat together, and cut more biscuits without overworking the dough. The first cut biscuits will be the tallest and most beautiful.

Baking to Golden Perfection

Brush the tops of biscuits with melted butter or buttermilk before baking. This creates a golden-brown, shiny top that looks professionally made at home. Bake in the preheated 450°F oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. The high temperature creates steam quickly, which makes biscuits rise dramatically and beautifully.

Don’t open the oven door during the first 10 minutes of baking time. Opening the door releases heat and prevents proper rising of the biscuits. The biscuits are done when tops are golden and bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from oven and brush with more butter if desired for extra richness.

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 3/4 cup cold buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in large bowl.
3. Cut cold butter cubes into flour mixture until pea-sized pieces form.
4. Make well in center. Pour buttermilk in all at once.
5. Stir gently with fork just until dough comes together. Don’t overmix.
6. Turn dough onto floured surface. Pat into rectangle 1 inch thick.
7. Fold dough in half, then in half again. Pat to 1 inch. Repeat 2-3 times.
8. Pat or roll dough to 3/4 to 1 inch thickness.
9. Cut with floured 2-inch cutter. Press straight down, don’t twist.
10. Place biscuits touching on baking sheet. Brush tops with melted butter.
11. Bake 12-15 minutes until golden brown on top.
12. Brush with more butter. Serve warm.

Notes

Make-Ahead: Cut unbaked biscuits and freeze on a baking sheet. Transfer frozen biscuits to freezer bag. Bake from frozen, adding 2-3 minutes to baking time.

Storage: Store baked biscuits in airtight container at room temperature for 2 days. Refrigerate up to 5 days. Reheat in 350°F oven for 5 minutes.

Buttermilk Substitute: Mix 3/4 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar. Let sit 5 minutes before using as buttermilk replacement.

Variations: Add 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon, or fresh herbs to dry ingredients.

Nutrition

Per Biscuit (makes 8 biscuits):

• Calories: 210
• Protein: 4g
• Carbohydrates: 26g
• Fat: 10g
• Sodium: 450mg
• Fiber: 1g

Tips for Perfect Biscuits Every Time

Keep Everything Cold

Temperature is the most important factor for flaky, tender biscuits at home. Use cold butter, cold buttermilk, and even chill the mixing bowl if possible. Work quickly to prevent body heat from warming ingredients during the mixing process. Some bakers work in a cool room or near an open refrigerator.

Don’t Overwork the Dough

Handle the dough as little as possible to keep it tender and light. Overworking develops gluten, which makes biscuits tough and dense like bread. The dough should look rough and shaggy, not smooth like bread dough. Mix just until ingredients come together, then stop immediately and start folding.

Use a Sharp Cutter

A sharp-edged cutter or knife creates clean cuts that rise properly during baking. Dull edges compress the dough and seal the layers together on edges. This prevents the edges from rising and creates flat, squat biscuits instead. Press straight down and lift straight up without twisting the cutter at all.

Proper Oven Temperature

High heat (450°F) is essential for creating steam and lift in biscuits. Lower temperatures won’t create enough steam for proper rising and flaky layers. Make sure your oven is fully preheated before putting biscuits in to bake. An oven thermometer ensures your oven is actually at the correct temperature.

Serving Suggestions

Breakfast Options

Serve warm biscuits with butter and honey, jam, or preserves for breakfast. Split biscuits and top with sausage gravy for a hearty Southern breakfast. Make breakfast sandwiches with eggs, cheese, and bacon between split biscuits. Biscuits and jam with coffee make a simple but satisfying morning meal.

Dinner Pairings

Buttermilk biscuits pair perfectly with fried chicken, pot roast, or country ham. Serve alongside soups, stews, or chili to soak up the delicious broth. They complement roasted vegetables and any kind of gravy beautifully at dinner. Biscuits make any casual dinner feel special and comforting for everyone.

Creative Uses

Use day-old biscuits to make bread pudding for a delicious dessert. Split and toast biscuits for strawberry shortcake with whipped cream and fresh berries. Crumble biscuits for toppings on casseroles or as breading for fried foods. Leftover biscuits make excellent stuffing or dressing for holiday meals too.

Conclusion

These homemade buttermilk biscuits are easier to make than you might think. With simple ingredients and proper technique, anyone can create tall, flaky biscuits. The key is keeping ingredients cold and handling the dough gently throughout. Fresh biscuits straight from the oven are worth every bit of effort. Make a batch this weekend and discover why homemade biscuits beat store-bought every time.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I make biscuit dough ahead of time?

Yes! Cut unbaked biscuits and freeze them on a baking sheet until solid. Transfer to a freezer bag and freeze up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding 2-3 extra minutes to the baking time.

2. Why are my biscuits flat and not fluffy?

Flat biscuits usually mean the butter was too warm or the dough was overworked. Make sure butter stays very cold and handle dough as little as possible. Also check that baking powder is fresh and not expired.

3. Can I use regular milk instead of buttermilk?

Buttermilk creates the best texture and flavor. For a substitute, mix 3/4 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar. Let it sit for 5 minutes before using in the recipe.

4. How do I reheat leftover biscuits?

Wrap biscuits in foil and heat in a 350°F oven for 5-7 minutes. Microwave for 15-20 seconds but they won’t be as crispy. Split and toast in a toaster for crispy edges.

5. Can I make smaller or larger biscuits?

Yes! Use any size cutter you prefer. Smaller biscuits bake for 10-12 minutes. Larger biscuits need 15-18 minutes. Adjust baking time based on size until golden brown on top.