best beginner buttermilk biscuits

October 9, 2020 9:16 PM

I have 2 cups of buttermilk. I want to make buttermilk biscuits and have never made biscuits before. Recommend your best recipes for a beginner! That's it, that's the whole question.
posted by skycrashesdown to Food & Drink (17 answers total)

Smitten Kitchen's drop cornbread biscuits and blue cheese scallion biscuits couldn't be easier. With the latter, I've subbed in one and a half cups of grated cheddar instead of blue cheese for non-blue-cheese-liking people, and that works just as well. Leaving the scallions out if you don't have any won't mess it up. But cheese and scallions are pretty good together in them.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:24 PM on October 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

My go-to is also a smitten kitchen recipe: My favorite buttermilk biscuits.

It’s pretty simple and comes together quickly.
posted by Maeve at 9:36 PM on October 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

From Maeve's link: Either the flour isn’t right (all-purpose when it should be White Lily
posted by Mr. Yuck at 9:49 PM on October 9, 2020 [1 favorite]

This I can vouch for this Homesick Texan recipe should do the trick (the trick being delicious buttermilk biscuits).
posted by Champagne Supernova at 12:27 AM on October 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

One of my favorite buttermilk biscuits is at Pies 'n' Thighs in Brooklyn. Here's their recipe via Bon Appetit. It looks like a lot, but it's meant for larger-sized biscuits - like 3" diameter and fairly thick. My recommendation would be to use about ¼ cup more buttermilk than what's called for, which you'll see as you mix it together. Don't overwork the dough, or you'll end up with tough biscuits!

I know the flour issue is contentious, but as a northerner who was introduced to White Lily several years ago I have to say it really does make a better biscuit. If it can't be found where you live you can order it on Amazon.

And if you're looking for ideas for toppings: have one biscuit with country ham, aged cheddar, and fig jam. Then have a second biscuit slathered with sour cherry preserve for dessert.
posted by theory at 2:09 AM on October 10, 2020

this is my go-to recipe. It's dead easy and the biscuits come out dope every time.
posted by speakeasy at 2:13 AM on October 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Since you mentioned you're a first-time biscuit maker, here are a few words of advice that helped me: Keep the butter chilled at all times - this includes limiting the use of your hands when working the dough, which could soften the butter too much. If you're using a biscuit cutter, don't twist it at all - your biscuits won't rise as much if you do. When you roll out the dough fold it over a few times to produce flakier biscuits.
posted by theory at 2:29 AM on October 10, 2020 [3 favorites]

I do these drop biscuits regularly with yogurt instead of milk, and they always turn out well. Buttermilk would work perfectly.
posted by knile at 6:15 AM on October 10, 2020

White Lily Flour. You need it. Trust me.
posted by cooker girl at 7:35 AM on October 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Details of a recipe itself won't matter that much, I use something akin to Smitten Kitchen's (but the Bon Appetit has an egg in it.... that's just wrong, imho!).

I mix grated cheese (asiago or cheddar or something sharp) into the dry ingredients sometimes.

Tips: the big idea is, do as little as you can.
-- Cold and fast. Keep the butter cold, cut it in fast, and don't feel compelled to mix it too well. Having pea-sized bits of unmixed butter in the dough is the whole secret. You can do this in one or two pulses of a food processor, but I do it by hand.
-- When you mix in fluids, hold some back. You want the dough to barely come together, and not be too wet; only use as much fluid as you need.
-- Shaping: I dump the lumpy, barely-together dough onto a floured surface, flatten to a ~1" thick square gently, fold like an letter (flaps from each side over the middle) once, and that's -it-. No more. Cut, then into the oven. Cold & fast!
posted by Dashy at 7:41 AM on October 10, 2020

The Kitchn recently tested four of the most popular recipes, and landed on Alton Brown's as the best.
posted by General Malaise at 8:55 AM on October 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Having tried many, many biscuit recipes, the only one that seems to work reliably for me is America’s Test Kitchen. ATK isn’t always the best (their pretty good!!), but this one nails it every time.
posted by furnace.heart at 11:55 AM on October 10, 2020

I have used Alton Brown’s for years, sometimes with half butter and half shortening and sometimes with all butter. It’s a classic biscuit.
posted by chocotaco at 2:09 PM on October 10, 2020

What can I substitute for While Lily flour if I am in, for example, the EU (Spain)?
posted by jpziller at 2:26 PM on October 10, 2020

This recipe (which does use White Lily, and notice the large amount of butter compared to some recipes...) is the best I've ever made. It was okay with Gold Medal flour, but the White Lily really made a huge difference. I ordered a bag from amazon so I can make them whenever I want.
posted by lovecrafty at 3:57 PM on October 10, 2020

Try this:

Butter Swim Biscuits
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups buttermilk
1 stick butter
4 tsp baking powder
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
Next, add the buttermilk and mix all of the ingredients together until a moist dough is formed.
Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl, and then pour it into an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish (make sure that your pan is not too small or shallow so that the butter doesn't drip out of the pan while it's baking).
Place the dough right on top of the melted butter and use a spatula to spread it evenly across the pan until it touches the sides.
Cut the unbaked dough (it should be swimming in butter at this point) into 9 evenish squares.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Enjoy for breakfast, lunch or dinner! These biscuits are the perfect companion to any meal. I prefer to eat them with raspberry jam
posted by Beethoven's Sith at 4:21 PM on October 10, 2020

jpziller, I believe you want "trigo blando". Pinch My Salt describes the ideal flours for buttermilk biscuits; soft winter wheat and a much lower protein content than other all purpose flours.

This might be an example. You'll need to read carefully to ensure that what I've written is correct.
posted by blob at 11:30 AM on October 12, 2020