(recipe) The Actual, Literal BEST Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe
In this carb-deprived 2018 dystopian landscape, there is one bread product I can’t live without – a tall, flaky, buttery biscuit. Do you know how many bad biscuit recipes are out there? I do because I’ve tried like 100 of them. I tried duck fat and lard and butter and milk and buttermilk and no buttermilk and everything in between.
After all of this testing, I actually found the best recipe. Behold: the one recipe to rule them all, the best, I mean the actual, literal, BEST buttermilk biscuit recipe. I was inspired by this recipe from Cooking Maniac but have made some tweaks and changes based on my own experimentation.
I think it’s important to use good quality butter here, like Kerrygold or Plugra, because of the buttery taste. You can do these in the food processor or by hand with a pastry cutter – I’ve given instructions for both. And if you want to use them for strawberry shortcakes, just add 2 or 3 teaspoons of sugar to the dough and sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar before baking.
Buttermilk Biscuits
makes 12-18 depending on size of biscuit cutter
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 1/2 cups flour (plus more for dusting)
- 2 Tblsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 8 Tblsp (1 cube) cold butter, cut into 20-30 small cubes
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tblsp melted butter
METHOD:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare a sheet pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Make the dough:
- Food processor method: Put flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add cold butter cubes and pulse about 6-8 times until crumbly. The butter pieces should be about the size of a lentil or a flat cornflake. Transfer the dough into a mixing bowl. Add buttermilk and stir gently with a wooden spoon until it comes together. If it’s too dry, add a splash more buttermilk. Dough may be a little sticky.
- Pastry cutter method: Put flour, baking powder, and salt in large mixing bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. Add cold butter cubes and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter in. The butter pieces should be about the size of a lentil or a flat cornflake. Add buttermilk and stir gently with a wooden spoon until it comes together. If it’s too dry, add a splash more buttermilk. Dough may be a little sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat it into a rough rectangle, about an inch thick. Fold it over and gently pat it down into a rectangle again. Repeat 3 times.
- Gently pat out the dough once more, so that it forms a rectangle. Gently cut dough into biscuits using a floured glass or biscuit cutter. Do not twist the cutter when cutting; this will crimp the edges of the biscuit causing it not to rise. If you have scraps you can reform them to cut additional biscuits.
- Place biscuits on prepared baking sheet and bake until golden, about 10-15 minutes. When they come out of the oven, immediately brush on the melted butter on top.
You say SALE in your ingredient list (1/2 tsp sale) but clearly you meant to say SALT. Just wanted to point it out. Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Ahhh good catch, thank you so much! Fixed it! Enjoy 🙂