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Buttermilk Biscuits

Buttery, lightly sweet, fluffy biscuits!
Print Recipe
Prep Time 40 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 12 (2-inch) biscuits

Equipment

  • 1 Large bowl (Or skip the bowl and do on a large cutting board)
  • 1 Bench scraper
  • 1 Rolling Pin
  • 1 Pair of gloves (If you don't want your hands to get messy!)
  • 1 2-inch Biscuit cutter (If you want round biscuits)
  • 1 Half Sheet Pan
  • 1 Pastry brush
  • 1 Ramekin or small pot (For melting the agave or salted butter to brush on top)
  • 1 Digital scale
  • 1 Set Measuring spoons
  • 1 Liquid Measuring cup
  • 1 Box grater (or knife and cutting board) (to grate or chop frozen butter)

Ingredients
  

  • 20 ounces All-purpose flour (by weight)
  • 2.25 tsp Kosher Salt
  • 1 ounce Baking powder
  • 1 ounce Granulated sugar (by weight)
  • 7 ounces Unsalted butter (by weight - freeze before cutting or grating)
  • 16 ounces Buttermilk (by volume)
  • Have extra flour on hand as needed to keep dough from sticking to the surface of rolling out biscuits.

For brushing on tops after baking:

  • 2 ounces Unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1 ounce Agave syrup

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375℉.
  • Weigh and then freeze butter for at least 20 minutes, while gathering all other ingredients and equipment.
  • Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl (or on cutting board if doing that way)
  • Grate the frozen butter with a box grater on largest hole grater (or chop in very small pieces). *IF butter warms, place back in freezer for a few minutes to chill!
  • Cut butter into dry ingredients with the bench scraper.
  • Make a well in dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and mix lightly until just comes together as dough. Very important - Do not overwork.
  • Turn onto floured board or surface. Knead until soft, but not too wet. Use book method to fold dough into layers. Do this twice.
  • Roll out to 1/2” thick - no thinner! Use floured cutter to cut 2-inch biscuits (do not twist - ! - or the sides will not rise properly). Decide whether to put biscuits touching each other closely for softer sides or more spread apart for more crispy sides on half sheet pan.
  • Bake at 375˚ for 10 minutes and then turn the pan around to bake for another 10 minutes. (Convection ovens will bake more quickly - try 5 minutes and 5 minutes).
  • Melt butter, salt and agave in small pot or microwave.
  • Remove biscuits from oven when they look lightly browned on top and cooked all the way through.
  • Once biscuits are lightly browned and fully cooked, use the pastry brush to coat the tops with the agave butter.

Notes

This recipe gives you a few choices to make.
  • When I first started making biscuits, I had much better luck when I froze and then grated the butter on the large holes of a box grater (a technique I learned from a JWU student actually - thank you Juan Jose Rodriguez DeLaRosa!!) Once I got better at them, I was able to have success with chopped pieces of butter - still frozen works best! Most people swear by the chopped butter as they seem to create better layers in the final product. I find both absolutely delicious, so if you are just starting out - try both ways and see what works best for you! 
 
  • Another choice - I am a purist about not re-rolling scraps, so while I do love a good round biscuit, I won't re-roll the extra dough, but just bake them off in their weird crescent leftover shapes as a way to test for doneness - or little snacks - not pretty but delicious (prep cooks will understand my love for a scoobie snack!) OR I have started just cutting my biscuits into square shapes with my metal bench scraper - no waste at all!
 
  • Last choice - do you like a crispy outside edge or a softer one? If you like the softer version, then place the biscuits very close - almost touching - "hugged up" as my mentor, Susan Spicer used to tell me ;)  If you prefer them more crispy, then place them further apart on the pan so the convected air can circulate around them. 
 
  • Okay, just kidding - one more choice - I really like this salted agave butter on my biscuits, but you can use honey butter, plain salted butter, orange-honey butter with zest and juice, Old Bay butter - you get the message - do what you like for your end goal on this day! But definitely brush them with some kind of melted butter as a final step. 
Keyword buttery, delicious, flaky, fluffy
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