Homemade Biscuits

Whether you’re topping them with strawberry jam or sausage gravy, biscuits are the versatile quick bread that are just as good as a dinner roll alternative as they are a breakfast star. Here at Delish, our ideal biscuit should have tender, flaky layers and an extra buttery taste, and this soft and pillowy recipe does just that. Can anything beat a warm, flaky biscuit straight out of the oven (or air fryer, see below)? I don't think so! Read on for all of my top tips for making the best biscuits possible:

What People Are Saying:
“Really simple and easy to make. My husband and children loved them this will now be my go to recipe.” - GreenBattery

How To Make Homemade Biscuits

INGREDIENTS

• All-Purpose Flour: Don't overwork the flour. I’m sure you've heard this one before, but that's because it’s important. The more the flour gets mixed and worked, the more gluten develops. Over-activated gluten will result in tough and gummy baked goods—the complete opposite of what we're going for here. To avoid this, you're going to pat your dough a lot while making biscuits. Once you feel the buttermilk is mixed in, use your hands to pat the dough into a rectangle. Your hands will be a much better guide than a spoon or any other tool. When folding your dough, don't be too tough when flattening it back together. Imperfection is beauty here.
• Baking Powder: This is going to help make your biscuits nice and flaky and not too dense. While baking soda needs acid to activate it, baking powder has a combination of sodium bicarbonate and an added powdered acid, meaning all it needs to activate is moisture and heat.
• Granulated Sugar: Added granulated sugar to your biscuits isn’t going to make them sweet, it will just give them a little bit of a kick-up. A little bit of sugar will just add some more flavor to the biscuits.
• Kosher Salt: I’m only adding a small amount of salt here, much in the same way that I am adding a little bit of sugar. Again, similarly, this won’t make the biscuits salty, but will instead elevate the buttery, flaky flavors already there.
• Unsalted Butter: Make sure your butter is cold. When I say cold, I mean COLD. About 30 minutes before you plan to make your biscuits, pop a stick of butter in the freezer. For the perfect biscuit texture, I grate my butter into the flour (yes, with a cheese grater!), and cold butter ensures that it won’t melt while you work the dough with your hands. Grating the butter will also distribute the butter evenly, making lots of little pockets for it to melt while baking (in other words: extra fluffy biscuits).
• Buttermilk: Add more (or less) buttermilk as needed. Unless you weigh out your flour each time, your buttermilk amount will always vary slightly—add the buttermilk slowly so that you know if your dough is becoming too wet. Alternatively, if you feel it's a little too dry, feel free to add about 1 tablespoon of buttermilk at a time until it feels right. If you've already added all of your buttermilk and it's too sticky, add just a bit more flour until the dough is easy to work with.

STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS

If you are making your biscuits in the oven, start by preheating it to 425° and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper. Then, regardless of whether you are using the oven or an air-fryer, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.

Then, using a box grater, grate your very cold butter over the flour mixture and use your hands—so you can get a better idea of how your dough is doing—toss the butter and flour mixture together to incorporate. Once combined, use a wooden spoon to create a well in the center of the dough, and pour in the cold buttermilk. It is important that the buttermilk is cold so as to not melt the butter. Melted butter means no flaky layers in your finished product. Mix the dough until it just begins to come together, then turn it out onto a clean, lightly floured surface.

Form your dough into a rectangle of about 1”-thick, taking care not to knead the dough. Then, take the long side and fold the dough into thirds like a letter and gently press to roll the dough back out into a 1”-thick rectangle. Repeat this process once more.

Taking care not to overwork the dough, gently pat it into a 1”-thick rectangle. Then use a 2” round biscuit or cookie cutter to cut out your biscuit rounds. Set these rounds aside and gather the scraps back together, again gently folding together and patting into a 1”-thick rectangle. Cut out as many more rounds as you can get, but don’t go through another round of reworking the dough or the final biscuits will come out flat and dense.

If you are using an air-fryer, at this point you will want to line an air-fryer basket with parchment and arrange the rounds spacing them about ½” apart. If you are using an oven, transfer the rounds to a prepared baking sheet.

Then brush melted butter on top of each of the biscuit rounds and, bake depending on method. If you are using an oven, bake the biscuits for 20 minutes. If you are using an air-fryer, cook them at 400° for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly golden. Whichever process, serve your biscuits warm with whatever spread you prefer!

The full list of ingredients and instructions can be found in the recipe below.

Recipe Tips

• Your biscuit dough may be a little drier than you expect. Pockets of dryness while folding are fine, as long as the dough is holding together nicely. You don’t want the dough to be too wet or sticky.
• Don't twist your biscuit cutter. This is a simple yet fatal mistake. When using a cookie or biscuit cutter, you're likely to naturally twist the cutter to make sure it cuts through the dough all of the way. Don’t do it! In this recipe, twisting the cutter will cause the dough to pinch together, resulting in biscuits that won’t properly rise. Instead, punch straight down and lift. If a few little strands are still connected, take a paring knife or kitchen scissors and cut them loose.

Storage

Like most baked goods, these biscuits are best fresh out of the oven. If you have any leftovers, they will keep in an airtight container for a couple of days. Re-toast them in the oven for a few minutes to help make them warm and soft again. You can also freeze your biscuits for up to 3 months. Once ready to eat, just thaw out in a 350° oven for several minutes until warm all the way through for a fresh-tasting and buttery biscuit.