These home made biscuits are tender and buttery with dozens of flaky layers. This biscuit recipe requires simply 7 elements they usually’re prepared in about 35 minutes.
I initially printed this recipe in 2017 and have since added new images, a video tutorial, and extra useful success suggestions.
One reader, Marcia, commented: “Lastly, a biscuit recipe that labored for me. I particularly appreciated the notes which, in reality, had me change some issues I had been doing. The element in any respect ranges, each visible and written, could be very useful. ★★★★★“
One other reader, Maggie, commented: “One in all my favourite biscuit recipes! They’re so constantly flaky and scrumptious, each single time! ★★★★★“
It’s fairly serendipitous that this “facet dish” could style much more exceptional than the primary occasion. No, no… it WILL style extra exceptional. Simply have a look at the massive buttery layers! Nothing can compete.
What Are Biscuits?
The time period “biscuits” has totally different meanings relying on the place you reside on this planet. Within the U.S., biscuits are much like a dinner roll, however are denser and flakier as a result of they aren’t (sometimes) made with yeast. Since there’s often no yeast and the rising agent is both baking soda, baking powder, or each, biscuits are thought-about a fast bread, like banana bread and no-yeast bread. In different components of the world, folks could contemplate these American-style biscuits to be extra much like scones, and what they name “biscuits” are extra like what we name cookies.
7 Key Substances in Selfmade Biscuits
You want simply 7 fundamental elements for my home made biscuits recipe:
- All-Goal Flour
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Chilly Butter
- Chilly Buttermilk
- Honey
With so few elements, it’s necessary to succeed in for high quality elements and keep away from any substitutions.
Baking Powder AND Baking Soda
Till not too long ago, this biscuits recipe referred to as for simply baking powder because the leavening agent. In recent times, I’ve discovered that the feel, colour, and taste excels when utilizing a mix of each baking powder AND baking soda. In case you’ve at all times made this recipe utilizing 2 Tablespoons of baking powder, you’ll be able to actually proceed to take action! Nevertheless, by lowering the baking powder to 1 Tablespoon and including 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, the biscuits brown extra, have a flakier texture, crispier edges, and also you don’t danger a bitter chemical aftertaste.
Success Ideas for the Finest Selfmade Biscuits
After perfecting this recipe over the previous 8 years and creating different biscuit recipes, let me share what I’ve discovered alongside the way in which. I’ve made loads of errors so that you don’t should. These tried-and-true methods will flip your flat, dry biscuits into the perfect biscuits ever. And that’s a assure.
- Chilly Fats: For flaky layers, use chilly butter. When little items of butter soften because the biscuits bake, they launch steam and create little pockets of air—this makes the biscuits ethereal and flaky on the within whereas remaining crisp on the surface. It’s the identical factor that occurs when making these ham & cheese scones.
- Buttermilk & Honey for Taste: Buttermilk and a teeny drizzle of honey steadiness out the salt. Buttermilk creates probably the most tender biscuit! I’ve lots extra on this subject in my Baking With Buttermilk submit (together with a buttermilk substitute recipe).
- Don’t Over-Combine: By no means overwork biscuit dough. Overworking and over-handling biscuit dough will end in powerful, laborious, and flat biscuits. Combine the elements collectively *simply* till mixed. Dough will probably be crumbly; that’s regular.
- Flatten & Fold Technique: Crucial step of all is folding the dough collectively. Flip the scrappy dough out onto a piece floor and flatten it together with your arms. Fold, flatten, flip, and repeat.
- Don’t Twist the Biscuit Cutter: When slicing the dough with a biscuit cutter, don’t twist the cutter. Press the cutter down into the dough firmly. Twisting it’ll seal off the biscuit edges, stopping the biscuits from rising.
- Bake Shut Collectively: Biscuits stand up good and tall when they’re touching, pressed snuggly towards each other within the oven.
Tips on how to Make Your Selfmade Biscuits
Whisk the dry elements collectively, then add the cubed butter. Reduce the butter into the dry elements with a pastry cutter, like when making pie crust, or pulse in a meals processor. Reduce/mix within the butter till you’ve got coarse crumbles, like this:
Add the buttermilk and honey. Combine all the pieces collectively till you’ve got a shaggy dough, like this:
Pour it out onto a piece floor and convey the dough collectively together with your arms. It will likely be dry and shaggy with some moist spots. That’s all completely regular:
Fold & Flatten the Dough
Flattening and folding biscuit dough creates a number of flaky layers, simply because it does once we make home made croissants, tough puff pastry, mille-feuille, and croissant bread. This step will take you not more than 2 minutes and also you’ll be rewarded with the flakiest biscuits on this planet. First, form dough right into a rectangle, about 3/4-inch thick:
Then fold one facet into the middle:
Then the opposite facet:
Flip the folded dough 90 levels so it’s now horizontal, gently flatten, and repeat that folding course of 2 extra occasions.
After you’ve folded and flattened 3 occasions, flatten right into a 3/4-inch rectangle as soon as once more, then use a biscuit cutter to form into rounds. In case you don’t have a biscuit cutter, you’ll be able to reduce into 8 to 10 squares.
Prepare shut collectively in a forged iron skillet (no must preheat it), or on a lined baking sheet. Once more, be sure the biscuits are touching so they’ll rise good and tall.
Earlier than baking, brush the biscuits with buttermilk to assist the tops brown evenly.
Honey Butter Topping
The honey butter topping is optionally available, however will set your biscuits aside from the remainder. When the biscuits come out of the oven, brush with melted butter + honey. You utilize each elements within the biscuit dough, conserving the rely at 7 elements whole.
Serve your home made biscuits with jam or home made raspberry sauce, cinnamon butter, or biscuits and gravy—I really like this explicit recipe. Or a swipe of home made honey butter actually kicks it up a notch!
So Many Variations
I bake biscuits usually, and use the identical course of and success suggestions when making all of my favourite variations together with cheddar biscuits, all the pieces bagel biscuits, and zucchini biscuits. I additionally make biscuit-topped vegetable pot pie and biscuit breakfast casserole. And you’ll completely flip these into dessert with my recipes for biscuit-topped berry cobbler and home made strawberry shortcake.
I make these biscuits on virtually a weekly foundation, and what makes them a success each single time is the mixture of very chilly butter and buttermilk. Moreover, the cautious folding and flattening technique helps produce dozens and dozens of flaky layers. Observe the recipe under carefully.
Bake the biscuits in a forged iron skillet, which helps the perimeters crisp up superbly. Moreover, use a pastry brush to coat the tops of the biscuits with somewhat buttermilk earlier than baking.
You should utilize a meals processor to chop the chilly butter into the dry elements, but when you don’t personal one, you need to use a pastry cutter as an alternative. A pastry cutter is a particularly useful baking device.
Description
These home made biscuits are tender and buttery with lots of of flaky layers! This biscuit recipe solely requires 7 easy elements they usually’re prepared in about 35 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Make the biscuits: Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a big bowl or in a giant meals processor. Whisk or pulse till mixed. Add the cubed butter and reduce into the dry elements with a pastry cutter or by pulsing a number of occasions within the processor. Reduce/pulse till coarse crumbs kind.
- In case you used a meals processor, pour the combination into a big bowl. Make a properly within the heart. Pour 1 cup (240ml/g) buttermilk into the properly and drizzle honey on prime. Utilizing a big spoon or spatula, fold till it begins to return collectively. Don’t overwork the dough. The dough will probably be shaggy and crumbly with some moist spots.
- Pour the dough and any dough crumbles onto a floured work floor and gently convey along with generously floured arms. The dough will turn out to be sticky as you convey it collectively. Have further flour close by and use it usually to flour your arms and work floor as wanted on this step. Utilizing floured arms, flatten right into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle as greatest you’ll be able to. Fold one facet into the middle, then the opposite facet on prime. Flip the dough 90 levels, so it’s now horizontal. Gently flatten right into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle once more. Repeat the folding once more. Flip the dough horizontally another time. Gently flatten right into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle. Repeat the folding one final time. Flatten into the ultimate 3/4-inch-thick rectangle.
- Reduce into 2.5- or 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter. (Tip: Don’t twist the biscuit cutter when urgent down into the dough as a result of this seals off the perimeters of the biscuit which prevents them from absolutely rising.) Re-roll scraps till all of the dough is used. You need to have about 8–11 biscuits. Prepare in a 10-inch forged iron skillet (see Notice) or shut collectively on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Ensure that the biscuits are touching.
- Brush the tops with remaining buttermilk. Bake for 20–21 minutes or till tops are golden brown.
- Take away from the oven. If including the optionally available topping, whisk the melted butter and honey collectively. Utilizing a pastry brush, brush the nice and cozy biscuits with honey butter topping. Serve heat.
- Cowl leftovers tightly and retailer at room temperature or within the fridge for as much as 5 days.
Notes
- Make Forward & Freezing Directions: Baked biscuits freeze properly for as much as 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or within the fridge, then heat as much as your liking earlier than serving. You may also freeze the biscuit dough. Put together the dough in steps 2 by 4. Wrap up tightly in plastic wrap (plastic wrap is greatest for freshness) and freeze for as much as 3 months. Thaw in a single day within the fridge, then proceed with step 5. Additionally, after step 4, you’ll be able to wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for as much as 2 days earlier than persevering with with step 5.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Pastry Cutter or Meals Processor | 2.5- or 3-inch Biscuit Cutter | 10-inch Forged Iron Skillet (or Baking Sheet with Parchment Paper) | Pastry Brush
- Baking Powder: In 2025, I up to date this recipe to make use of each baking powder and baking soda. I’ve discovered that the feel, colour, and taste excels when utilizing a mix of each. In case you’ve at all times made this recipe utilizing 2 Tablespoons of baking powder, you’ll be able to actually proceed to take action! Nevertheless, by lowering the baking powder to 1 Tablespoon and including 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, the biscuits brown extra, have a flakier texture, crispier edges, and also you don’t danger a bitter chemical aftertaste.
- Butter: Reduce into 1/2-inch cubes. Preserve butter as chilly as potential till you want it. I like to recommend putting the cubed butter within the freezer for about quarter-hour earlier than you start.
- Buttermilk: You may substitute complete milk for buttermilk if desired. Nevertheless if you happen to’d just like the tangy taste, which I extremely advocate, you can also make your personal DIY buttermilk substitute. Add 2 teaspoons of recent lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Add sufficient milk to make 1 cup. (You want 1 cup within the recipe, plus 2 Tbsp for brushing—you need to use common milk to brush on prime.) Whisk collectively, then let sit for five minutes earlier than utilizing within the recipe. Complete milk is greatest for the DIY bitter milk substitute, although lower-fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. (In my testing, the biscuits don’t style as wealthy or rise fairly as tall utilizing lower-fat or nondairy milks.)
- Forged Iron Skillet: In case your forged iron skillet isn’t properly seasoned, I like to recommend greasing it with somewhat vegetable oil or melted butter. Brush a skinny layer of both on the underside and across the sides. No must warmth the forged iron skillet earlier than utilizing, although you actually can. Place within the preheated oven for quarter-hour earlier than arranging the formed biscuits in it.
- Flavors: Attempt my flavorful biscuit variations: cheddar biscuits, zucchini biscuits, and all the pieces bagel biscuits.
Vitamin
- Serving Measurement: 1 biscuit
- Energy: 212
- Sugar: 2.4 g
- Sodium: 283.5 mg
- Fats: 9.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 27.5 g
- Protein: 4.1 g
- Ldl cholesterol: 25.4 mg
