Medium

Chef John's Buttermilk Biscuits

Total Time
1h 23m
20m prep · 63m cook
Servings
4 people
Rating
Difficulty
Medium
2 views
🥬 Vegetarian 🥜 Nut-Free ☪️ Halal ✡️ Kosher

This deceptively simple buttermilk biscuit recipe can come out a million different ways with some very minor variations on the ingredients and amounts. This one's my favorite — flaky, but not dry; chewy, but not tough; and crisp in just the right spots. Ice-cold butter and some extra dough folding are key to having lots of flaky layers in each golden brown buttermilk biscuit.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 0.25 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 7 tablespoons unsalted butter , chilled in freezer and cut into thin slices
  • 0.75 cups cold buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoons buttermilk for brushing

Instructions

  1. 1

    Gather the ingredients. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

  2. 2

    Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Add cold butter slices and cut into the flour with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

  3. 3

    Make a well in the center of the mixture. Pour cold buttermilk into the well and stir gently until just combined. Turn dough onto a floured work surface and pat it together into a rectangle.

  4. 4

    Fold the rectangle in thirds. Turn dough a half turn, gather any crumbs, and flatten back into a rectangle. Repeat twice more, folding and pressing the dough a total of three times.

  5. 5

    Roll dough on a floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Use a 2 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter to cut biscuits. Reroll any scraps to cut more biscuits; you should get 12 total.

  6. 6

    Transfer biscuits to the prepared baking sheet. Press an indent into the top of each biscuit with your thumb. Brush buttermilk over the tops.

  7. 7

    Bake in the preheated oven until biscuits are flaky and golden brown, about 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

Per serving

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