Better Buttermilk Biscuits • Southern Shelle (2024)

After years of trying a million recipes, this is my recipe for Buttermilk Cream Biscuits. It took me an incredibly long time to figure out how to make biscuits that I’m proud of consistently. But I only got here by recognizing that biscuit making is equal parts science and art.

This realization is why your baking influence [mother/aunt/grandmother] can’t tell you exact measurements, because they understand that sometimes things change. Sometimes you have to get your hands in some dough and figure things out.

I am hoping to share my learnings along the way so it doesn’t take y’all nearly as long to get the hang of creating the epitome of southern baking: the buttermilk biscuit.

What is a Buttermilk Biscuit?

It’s a biscuit made with buttermilk. Clever, right? In the southern part of the United States there are a few different ways to make biscuits. The most common way is to make biscuits using buttermilk. And then there are cream biscuits, which are typically biscuits made with two ingredients – self rising flour and heavy cream. Both are delicious, but as I’ve experimented with how to make biscuits, I found that having a little bit of both creates a beautifully rich and flaky biscuit.

Ingredients

Heavy Cream. The heavy cream adds flavor to the biscuit by adding a little more fat and helps hydrate the dough. The extra fat in the heavy cream is helpful because buttermilk in stores is often “low-fat” buttermilk.

Buttermilk. The buttermilk adds a tangy flavor to the biscuit and helps hydrate the dough just enough to create a nice structure for our biscuits. As a bonus, when the buttermilk interacts with the baking soda it causes a chemical reaction that allows for the biscuit to rise.

All purpose Flour. See my notes below about the my favorite brand. The important things to note here is that you should not use cake flour here because it does not have enough protein to develop the right amount of gluten for the biscuits. Instead find a soft-milled flour, like White Lily.

Salt. Salt adds flavor to the biscuits and can affect the tenderness of the biscuit, because it attracts water, holding on to the moisture provided by the buttermilk/heavy cream and butter.

Leavening Agents: baking soda and baking powder. This recipe relies heavily on baking powder (4 teaspoons!) to get a tall rise out of the biscuits. The baking soda interacts with the buttermilk to produce carbon dioxide, also contributing to the quick rise of the biscuits.

Crisco. You may be tempted to swap out the vegetable shortening for an all butter biscuit. Beware: the vegetable shortening plays a role in creating a tender, melt in your mouth buttermilk biscuit. The science behind this has to do with gluten development. Gluten is developed by adding moisture/hydration to the flour. In this recipe hydration comes from the buttermilk and heavy cream, but also the butter.

• 2 ½ inch biscuit cutter
• Firm silicone spatula
• Large stainless steel bowl
• Rolling Pin
• Ungreased baking sheet
• Dough Scraper (optional)

Biscuit Rules

Feel Things Out

This is the rule that I struggled with the longest, but when I finally approached biscuits with a more flexible mind-set the better they turned out. So the real trick to baking any biscuits from scratch is that sometimes you have to feel things out and adjust in real time. For example, the recipe calls for ¾ cup of buttermilk, but depending on the brand of flour you use, or the general humidity of your kitchen/location you may need a little more. When you’re trying to follow a baking recipe, where there are so many ‘rules’, you have to remember that only you can see all of the variables in your kitchen. Hopefully the following pointers can help you troubleshoot in real time. So in summary, if the biscuit dough seems too dry, it probably is, and you should add in some more buttermilk.

Use the “best” flour.

The correct answer here is White Lily all purpose flour. No this is not a sponsored post. White Lily Flour is milled from soft red winter wheat. When you’re making biscuits that are as light as a cloud, you need a soft milled flour. Now if you don’t live in the southern United States, you probably won’t be able to find White Lily in your grocery store. The next best flour brand is Gold Medal.

Everything needs to be cold.

When the biscuits go into a hot oven the butter releases steam that helps create the layers in a nice tall biscuit. So the goal is to make sure the biscuits have a chance to release that steam. And the best way to guarantee this is to keep everything as cold as possible. I keep things cold by:

1. Keeping a can of Crisco in my freezer at all times.
2. Not touching the butter with my hands when I cut in the butter;
3. Using a stainless steel mixing bowl;
4. After cutting in the butter, I put the bowl of flour/butter in the freezer while the oven preheats. This allows the butter/shortening to stay cold before adding in the buttermilk.
5. Working quickly to mix the dough, and cut out the biscuits
6. And in the summer, turning my AC down as low as possible.

Are you required to do all of those things? Absolutely not. Like I said in biscuit rule #1, you know your kitchen better than I do, so make decisions that will work for your set-up. The ultimate goal is to create a biscuit that is tall and flaky, by any means necessary.

Don’t over mix.

When you pour in the buttermilk and heavy cream try to evenly drizzle the liquid so that the dough comes together with the least amount of stirring. Why? The more your stir the batter the more time the gluten has to develop– and overdeveloped gluten leads to tough biscuits.

Press down, don’t twist.

If you twist the biscuit cutter when you cut out the biscuits, you will end up with short and squat biscuits because twisting seals the edges and prevents the biscuit from rising. Just make sure you press down and up. Nothing extra here.

How to Make Buttermilk Biscuits

Measure It.

Measure out the flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder in a large bowl.

“Cut in” the shortening and butter.

“Cutting in” is the process of creating small pea-sized bits of butter/or shortening that is then tossed and coated in flour. There are many ways to “cut in” the butter. You can use a pastry cutter, the back of a fork or a food processor. I use two different techniques based on the type of fat. Do what works best for you!

1. Cutting in vegetable shortening. The best way for me to cut in the vegetable shortening is with my hands. You just squeeze the cold vegetable shortening into the flour until it has pea sized bits of flour. It’s kind of like playing in sand.
2. Cutting in the butter, I use the large side of a cheese grater. Then grate the butter directly into the flour mixture. Then I use a flexible spatula to toss the butter into the flour, because the butter is straight from the fridge, I try to avoid touching it with my hands to keep it from melting.
   

Chill the Flour/Butter

Put the entire bowl with the flour and butter in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 450ºF. This should take an oven about 15-20 minutes, giving the butter and vegetable shortening a chance to chill.

Stir it together

Pour the buttermilk and heavy cream over the flour mixture and stir with a flexible spatula, until the dough just comes together. Don’t over stir. If the dough seems dry, add more buttermilk by the tablespoon until the dough forms.

Pat (or Roll) and Cut

Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and turn out the biscuit dough. Gently pat the dough into a rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, like an envelope. Then rotate the dough 90 degrees. Repeat the pat and fold process three times.

Pat or roll the dough out until it has about ¾ inch thickness.

Dip a 2 inch biscuit cutter into flour after each cut. Cut out the biscuits by pressing down, but not twisting the biscuit cutter. Try to cut as many biscuits out of the dough without having to re-roll, the more the dough is handled, the tougher the biscuits will be.

Bake ‘em

If baking directly, place the biscuits on an ungreased/unlined baking sheet. For crispy biscuits leave 2 inches between each biscuit. For softer biscuits, let the dough rounds touch.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, until the biscuits are golden brown. Remove from the oven and brush the tops with melted butter. Serve warm.

Q&A:

How to Eat them?

This should be self explanatory, but just in case you need some ideas:

For breakfast:

• Make breakfast biscuits, like the classic bacon,egg and cheese biscuit or a sausage biscuit. .
• Top them with sausage gravy for biscuits and gravy.
• As a side dish to compliment your bacon and eggs.

Jam, Jellies or Butters.

• Did you score a Bonne Maman Advent Calendar at Christmas? Bake a tray of biscuits and test out some jams!
• Make your own homemade Strawberry Jam
• Whip up a quick honey butter

Desserts

• Use these biscuits to make strawberry shortcakes
• Or as topping for a cobbler.

Make Ahead

Buttermilk Biscuits on a weekday is a common breakfast request at my house. I typically triple the recipe, and line a large cookie sheet with cut out biscuit rounds. I place them in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm up before putting them in an airtight freezer bag and putting them in my garage freezer. Buttermilk Biscuits will keep frozen for about 3 months.

When I am ready to bake, I preheat my oven [or toaster oven!] to 425ºF and bake directly from the freezer on an ungreased/unlined cookie sheet for 17-20 minutes.

Food Safety

When it comes to biscuit making there are two food safety rules I always follow:

1. Wash your hands. Seriously.
2. Remove all of your jewelry: rings, watches and bracelets.

Storage

Baked biscuits can last in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of days. If you have left over biscuits, warm them up in a toaster oven for a couple minutes.

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