These are by far the best biscuits I have ever made at home! This recipe is from Carla Hall who is a well-known Southern cook. At first I didn’t see how these few small ingredient variances from a standard baking powder biscuit recipe would be that different, but wow, it sure was. These are light, fluffy and flaky and melt in your mouth. They don’t need anything but butter on top to enjoy.
TIPS: You can cut these biscuits smaller if making them as a party appetizer. If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute a combination of milk and plain greek yogurt or sour cream, mixed to resemble the texture of heavy cream (1 C milk and 1/3 C sour cream or yogurt in this recipe. Both taste great). You can also freeze the unbaked biscuits on the sheet pan, and then put them in freezer bags to bake at a later time. Carla Hall’s recipe first cuts in the shortening, then she grates the cold butter using a hand held grater and then mixes it into the flour with her hands to cover the butter with flour. I did it all with a pastry cutter and they were great but I thought I would share her exact way.
Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 2/3 C all purpose flour, plus more for dusting (about 11 3/8 oz)(higher protein flour like King Arthur is better)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt or kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsp vegetable shortening
- 1/2 C very cold butter
- 1 1/3 C cold buttermilk (or mixture of 1 C milk and 1/3 C plain greek yogurt)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and baking soda.
- Add shortening and butter and cut in with a pastry cutter until the flour mixture resembles small peas.
- Add buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir together to form a shaggy, sticky dough with no flour remaining. Do not over mix.
- Sprinkle your work surface with flour. Turn dough onto prepared work surface. Dust your hands with flour. Lightly dust top of dough with flour. Pat dough with hands to form a 1/2 inch thick rectangle about 11×7 inches. Fold rectangle into thirds, as if you were folding a letter. Pat the dough out again into an 11×7 rectangle and refold. Repeat this a third time, then pat dough back out to a 1/2-inch thick rectangle.
- Using lightly floured 2-1/4 inch round cookie cutter, cut dough and place smooth side up on the baking sheet. Space biscuits about 3/4 inch apart. Stack and reshape the scraps and cut out more biscuits until all dough is used. Refrigerate, uncovered, 15 minutes.
- Bake chilled dough until tops are golden brown and lightly crisped, 15-20 minutes. (Less time if you skipped the chilling step…). Let biscuits cool on pan 5 minutes.
- Enjoy!