In need of guidance, I turned to my baking cookbooks, and in Melissa Weller’s A Good Bake, I came across a recipe for flaky buttermilk biscuits. Her recipe called for a higher proportion of butter, less sugar, and more salt. She described the biscuits as “soft and flaky, rich with butter, and with a lot of layers you can see from the sides.” It sounded promising. I made them, and much to my delight, the family — and I — gobbled them up. These, to me, are perfection. When broken apart from end to end, the biscuits open accordion-style, each pleat flaking into the next. The exterior is crisp and burnished and a little bit sweet thanks to a sprinkling of turbinado sugar. Heavenly on their own, these biscuits are even better with a slick more of salted butter. What isn’t? I have made a few small changes to the recipe — I’ve added a teensy bit more salt (just a gram!), more baking powder (to encourage a little more lift), and more buttermilk, which I found essential to get the dough into a cohesive ball without overworking it. I also employ a few other tricks I’ve adopted since learning this previously favored buttermilk biscuit recipe, which, I must note, still produces an excellent biscuit, also flaky in texture, but softer and lighter, which some people might find preferable. (Though they do need more salt … I’ve updated the recipe.) I’ve summed up all of my biscuit making knowledge here:
8 Tips for Excellent Buttermilk Biscuits
How to Make These Biscuits Ahead Of Time (Fridge/Freezer)
There are three ways you can make these biscuits ahead of time:
How to Make Buttermilk Biscuits, Step by Step
Gather your ingredients: only six! Flour, butter, buttermilk, salt, sugar, baking powder. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Add the cold, cubed butter. Cut the butter in using a pastry cutter or the back of a fork. You also could do this in the food processor. Add the buttermilk … … and stir to combine. You may need to knead the dough briefly with your hands to get it into a cohesive ball. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and pat into a square. Roll out into a 14-inch long rectangle. Fold the top third down. Fold the bottom third up. Turn the block 90 degrees. You’ll repeat this rolling-and-folding proces twice more. After the third set of fold, pat the dough into a square. Cut the square into 9 equal pieces. Transfer the squares to a sheet pan and chill for 30 minutes. Then brush with a little more buttermilk and sprinkle with turbinado sugar if you wish. transfer to the oven and bake until golden, 25-30 minutes. Look at those layers… … irresistible. 4.6 from 17 reviews As always, for best results, use a scale to measure. I have made a few small changes to the recipe:
I’m using a teensy bit more salt and baking powder. I’m using all-purpose flour exclusively as opposed to a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flour. I sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar, because I love that salty-sweet dynamic. When I use something like Kate’s buttermilk, which is on the thin side, I use 1 cup of buttermilk. When I use thicker buttermilk (like Argyle Cheese Farmer, if you are local), I use about 1/4 cup (60 grams) more buttermilk. So, depending on the thickness of the buttermilk, you may need more or less. I suggest starting with 1 cup and if when you are incorporating the buttermilk into the butter-flour mixture the mixture feels dry, add more buttermilk by the tablespoon until the dough comes together. To make homemade buttermilk: Fill a measuring cup with 300 grams (1.25 cups) of milk 2% or whole preferably, add 1.5 tablespoons vinegar or fresh lemon juice. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes. Give it a stir; then use.
