Buttermilk Biscuits

5 from 6 votes

A few simple ingredients are all it takes to make classic Southern-style buttermilk biscuits that are light and flaky with perfect buttery layers.

Prep Time20

Cook Time15

Total Time35

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

Servings:

Calories: 166kcal

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.
Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar.
Cut the butter into pieces and scatter over the flour mixture.
Use a pastry blender to break down the butter and mix with the flour until the butter has formed pea-size pieces.
Pour the buttermilk into the flour/butter mixture and stir with a spatula just until the mixture is combined. The dough will be slightly wet and in pieces.
Scoop the dough onto a floured surface and use your hands to gently bring it together and pat it into a rectangle, about 3/4 inch thick.
Fold the dough into thirds, bringing the left side across the center and then the right side folded over. Rotate the dough so it is lying horizontally and pat out into a rectangle again, repeating the pat and fold a total of four times.
After the dough has been folded in four repetitions, pat it or roll it with a rolling pin out into a rectangle ½ to ¾ inch thick. Use a floured 2½-inch biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can from the rectangle.
Place each biscuit onto the prepared cookie sheet, with the edges of the biscuits touching one another. You can gather up the remaining dough, pat it and cut it again, but the more you work the dough, the tougher the finished biscuits will be.
Brush the top of each biscuit with a little buttermilk.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until biscuits have puffed up and turned golden brown on the top.
Serve immediately.

Use a sifter to get out any clumps in the flour and to aerate the ingredients.
Brush the tops of each biscuit with a little bit of buttermilk. This will help them turn a nice golden brown.
Oven temperatures vary and may need to be recalibrated periodically to ensure they are accurate. Make sure to keep a close eye on your biscuits as the suggested baking time approaches.