Buttery Flaky Homemade Biscuits

Oh biscuits, the one thing that can be sweet or savory, a snack or part of a meal, and just another thing that can be store bought, or made 10x better at home. And of course we’re making them better at home… because why would we not?!

I’ve been perfecting these biscuits for about 2 months now. They were a process of trying different ratios of butter, different washes over top (egg vs milk), and many MANY different baking temperatures and times. Finally, last week, I felt like I perfected my own recipe. Growing up, we always used the pop can biscuits and it felt damn amazing to make my own from scratch!

These biscuits are incredibly flakey, have nice golden brown tops, and are super buttery. My ideal biscuit, you could say! They are made with only 7 total ingredients and are fairly simple to make! Plus, there is no kneading or resting time, so they’re quick too – perfect for a last minute show-stopping breakfast for friends and family!

Equipment Needed

• Large Mixing Bowl
• Pastry Cutter or Food Processor – to cut the butter into the flour!
• Baking Sheet – to bake the biscuits, obviously. 🙂

Prepping The Ingredients

Undoubtedly the most important aspect of biscuits is keeping everything as COLD as possible! This means keeping the egg and milk in the refrigerator up until the very minute you use it! With the butter, I recommend freezing it for at least 30 minutes, longer if possible, before cutting and adding it to your dough. This helps to ensure the butter remains cold as you prepare the dough. And the reason for keeping the butter cold is that the colder the butter, the flakier the biscuits!

The Biscuit Dough

So, with that, start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, measure the all purpose flour, salt, baking powder and cane sugar and add them all to a large mixing bowl. Give those dry ingredients a quick whisk together to combine. Then, remove the butter from the freezer and cut it into cubes, about 1/2 – 1/4 inch. Add the cubed frozen butter to the bowl with the dry ingredients, and with a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dough. After about a minute of doing so and when the butter starts to look a bit more pea-sized, you can stop cutting with the pastry cutter.

Alternatively, if you do not own a pastry cutter, you can use a food processor. Simply follow the same process of adding all of the dry ingredients to the food processor with the frozen cubed butter, and pulse together a few times until the butter becomes pea-sized.

Then, add the cold egg and cold milk to the mixing bowl of dry ingredients and butter, and mix with a spatula to form a shaggy combined dough. You will stop mixing once everything just comes together and there are no pockets of dry ingredients left. Overworking the dough will lead to less flaky and denser biscuits, so be aware of this when mixing. 🙂 Only mix until everything has just come together – don’t mix any more than necessary to combine the dry ingredients with the wet!

Kneading… Or the lack thereof

Once the dough has just come together, generously flour a clean surface. With your hands, gently spread it out into a square or rectangle (doesn’t really matter, just a general shape is fine!). It is important to generously flour the surface since the dough is not kneaded, and it may be stickier than any normal yeasted dough that would be kneaded.

Next, we’ll laminate the dough. This will simply create further layers within the dough creating the flaky layers in the biscuits once baked! Cut the dough that you’ve formed into a square, into four quarters, and stack them directly on top of one another. Then, press the dough down with your hands to combine the layers and press into a 1-inch thick square or circle of dough. During this process, keep your surface well floured. If needed, add an additional Tbsp of flour down.

Cutting The Biscuits

Grab a biscuit cutter or a glass cup with a round drinking base and cut straight down into the dough to cut them. Avoid any twisting the cup downwards to cut — this will affect the way the biscuits rise… in other words, just press straight down to cut.

Once you’ve cut the biscuits with the initial dough, gather the scraps and recombine them and form again. Then cut an additional 1 or 2 biscuits from those re-rolled scraps. Note: because of the additional handling, these last 2 biscuits may not rise as high as the others – but they will still be delicious!

Baking Time & Temperature

Then, place each biscuit on a baking sheet, about 1 inch apart, and brush the tops of each with whole milk. Finally, bake the biscuits for 15 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

I cannot wait to see all the incredible bakes of these biscuits that you guys make!

Buttery Flaky Homemade Biscuits

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Lindsey Goldschmidt

Servings

6

Biscuits

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 Egg

• 1 Cup Whole Milk

• 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp COLD Unsalted Butter

• 1/4 Cup Cane Sugar

• 3 Cups All Purpose Flour

• 3 tsp Baking Powder

• 1 tsp Kosher Salt

• 1 Tbsp Whole Milk for a wash over top of the biscuits (this does not get added into the dough!)

Directions

• Start by preheating the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Measure the All Purpose Flour, Salt, Baking Powder, and Cane Sugar and add them all to a large mixing bowl. Give those dry ingredients a quick whisk together to combine.
• Then, remove the butter from the freezer and give it a rough cut into cubes, about 1/2-1/4 inch in size. Add the cubed frozen butter to the bowl with the dry ingredients that you measured out in step 2, and with a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dough. After about a minute of doing so and once the butter is in small pieces dispersed throughout the flour, you can stop cutting with the pastry cutter.
  
  (Here is where, if you don’t have a party cutter, you can use a food processor! Simply follow the same process of adding all of the dry ingredients to the food processor with the frozen cubed butter, and pulse together a few times until the butter becomes pea-sized.)
• Then, add the cold egg and cold milk to the mixing bowl of dry ingredients and butter, and mix with a spatula to form a shaggy combined dough. You will stop mixing once everything just comes together and there are no pockets of dry ingredients left.
• Once the biscuit dough has come together, generously flour a clean surface. This is super important as the dough will be sticky! Press it out with your hands into a 1 inch thick circle or square.
• Grab a biscuit cutter or a glass cup with a round drinking base and cut straight down into the dough to cut them. Avoid any twisting the cup downwards to cut — this will affect the way the biscuits rise… in other words, just press straight down to cut.
• Once you’ve cut the biscuits from the initial rolling of the dough, gather the scraps and recombine them and form again with your hands. Then cut an additional 1 or 2 biscuits from those re-rolled scraps. Note: because of the additional handling, these last 2 biscuits may not rise as high as the others – but they will still be delicious!
• Then, place each biscuit on a baking sheet, about 1 inch apart, and brush the tops of each with whole milk. Finally, bake the biscuits for 15 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.