Today, I’m going to teach you how to make blissful buttermilk biscuits. Each person has their own unique method, none of which is wrong. We should all have a dependable biscuit recipe because there is nothing worse than a flat, dry biscuit that can be used as a hockey puck!
Here’s what you need to know:
Choose Your Flour
Not all flours are created equal. Flours vary in their protein levels, which affects the texture of baked goods. Gluten gives structure to yeast bread but is not recommended for tender biscuits, cakes, and quick bread.
Most national brands of all-purpose flour are a combination of soft winter wheat and higher-protein hard summer wheat. Southern all-purpose flour is milled from soft winter wheat that has less gluten-forming protein.
As nearly every biscuit recipe from trusted sources will tell you, White Lily flour is the absolute best. It contains approximately nine grams of protein per cup of flour, whereas other national brands can contain eleven or twelve grams of protein per cup of flour. White Lily can be ordered online. Alternatively, you use your newfound knowledge about protein content in flour to create your own version.
To make a lower protein flour (similar to White Lily or Martha White), mix half cake flour with half all-purpose flour for the amount of Southern flour in a recipe. Another substitute for soft wheat flour, though not quite as tender, is for each cup of regular all-purpose flour, replace 2 tablespoons of flour with cornstarch.
In addition, high-protein flour absorbs more liquid than low-protein flour, so if you attempt to make biscuits with high-protein flour, you will need to add more liquid.
To make self-rising flour, add 1½ teaspoons baking powder and ½ teaspoon table salt to each cup of all-purpose flour.
Check the dates on the all-purpose or self-rising flour, baking powder, and baking soda to make sure they are fresh. You don’t want to go through all the effort of making biscuit dough and not have your biscuits rise.
Now that our quick flour lesson is over, we can get back to baking some great buttermilk biscuits!
Preheating Your Oven
Start preheating the oven as soon as you start thinking about making the biscuits! If your oven isn’t fully preheated, the biscuits will not rise as high. As the biscuit dough heats up in the oven, the butter begins to melt, creating steam that gives biscuits their flakiness. The combination of steam and baking powder pushes the dough upward for a tall rise.
Preparation is Key
Prepare the ingredients and tools in advance so you can work quickly and efficiently: preheat the oven, chill the mixing bowl, grate the frozen butter, measure out dry ingredients and the buttermilk, flour the counter, and put the biscuit cutter, roll pin, parchment paper lined baking sheet on the counter.
Control Temperature
Temperature is important when making biscuits. Chill the glass or metal bowl that will be used to mix the dough in the freezer. The use of chilled ingredients is also important because they minimize gluten development.
Dry Ingredients
Measure and mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. If you don’t mix the dry ingredients before adding the wet ingredients, you’ll end up with excess pockets of leavening or salt in one area and not enough in another. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl in the freezer.
Working with Butter
Work with frozen butter – grate it using large holes of a grater, and chill again before adding to dry ingredients.
Rub the butter and flour between your fingers as if you are rubbing dried glue off of your fingers. When the dough resembles coarse crumbs, the mixture is ready. A simple way to make sure the butter is equally incorporated into the dough is to pinch the dough between your fingers. If the dough sticks together, the mixture is ready.
Putting It All Together
Add the buttermilk to the butter and flour mixture. Stir the dough until it just comes together. DO NOT over-mix the dough! Over-mixing can lead to tough biscuits.
Folding It In
Sprinkle all-purpose flour on a clean work surface and have extra flour nearby in a bowl for your hands and biscuit cutter. Self-rising flour can give the outside of the biscuits a bitter taste due to the leavening it contains.
Scrape the dough mixture out onto the floured work surface. Quickly and gently, use just enough pressure to pat the pile of dough into a rectangle that is about 2 inches thick. As you’re patting it out, gently incorporate any crumbling edges back into the dough mass. Slide both hands under the left side of the dough (at about 9 o’clock if you think of the dough as a clock face), lift it up, and fold it over the other side at 3 o’clock as if you’re closing a book. Again, pat the dough into a 2-inch thick rectangle. This time, slide your hands under the bottom of the dough at 6 o’clock and fold it up toward 12 o’clock. Repeat the patting into a 2-inch rectangle, folding from 3 o’clock to 9 o’clock, patting, then folding from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock. Each time you do this, the dough should hold together just a little better. You are simply finishing the mixing process with your hands. This creates buttery layers that bake up flaky.
Roll It Out
Rub a rolling pin with flour and very gently roll out the dough into a circle or rectangle of 1-inch thickness. If you want high biscuits, don’t make the dough any thinner than one inch.
Cut or Shape
Dip the cutter in flour and then push straight down when cutting biscuits. Don’t spin or twist the cutter because it may seal the dough and prevent the rise. Cut the biscuits as closely together as possible to minimize any excess between them. If you do not have a sharp biscuit cutter, use a sharp knife and cut straight down into the dough, forming squares. Form the dough scraps into biscuit shapes by hand instead of re-rolling the dough.
Transfer the biscuits to a parchment-lined baking sheet so that the sides are touching each other. This makes for a nice soft-sided biscuit and is said to help them rise better.
If possible, chill the biscuits before baking them to ensure that the butter melts properly, releasing steam that helps to leaven the baked good and produce flaky layers. Fifteen minutes in the refrigerator or 5 minutes in the freezer usually does the trick.
At this point, you can brush the biscuit tops with melted butter or buttermilk before placing them in the oven.
Bake to Perfection
Place the baking sheet in the middle of a preheated oven and bake for 8-12 minutes, rotating the pan front to back halfway through baking. When they are golden brown, remove them from the oven. Finish with flair by lightly sprinkling the buttermilk biscuits with flaky salt. Remove biscuits to a wire rack to cool for a few minutes before eating.
The perfect biscuit should be golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside, with a light, airy interior.
Freezing Biscuits
To Freeze Unbaked Biscuits: Transfer the unbaked, cut biscuits to a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and stick the sheet in the freezer. When the biscuits are frozen solid, stack them in a re-sealable freezer bag, label the bag, and keep frozen until needed, or for up to 3 months.
To Bake the Frozen Biscuits: Preheat the oven to 500 °F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange the frozen biscuits on the sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between each biscuit. Brush the biscuit tops with melted butter or buttermilk, if desired, and bake the biscuits for 8 minutes. Rotate the pan front to back and lower the heat to 425 °F. Continue cooking for 8-10 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown. Remove them from the oven and place them on a wire rack to cool for a few minutes before eating.
Note: Trade or brand names used in this publication are used only for the purpose of educational information. The information given herein is with the understanding that no discrimination is intended, and no endorsement information of products by the University of Wyoming Extension is implied. Nor does it imply approval of products to the exclusion of others, which may also be suitable.
Written by Vicki Hayman, MS, University of Wyoming Extension Nutrition and Food Safety Educator
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