Flaky Buttery Biscuits
Biscuits are super easy to make, and don’t take much time either. Please, if you’ve never made biscuits from scratch, you owe it to yourself to give this a try. I promise these are better than any biscuit out of a can.
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Ingredients:
- 1 stick of butter
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup milk
| Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 14 Minutes | Yield: 12 biscuits |
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
First, measure out the flour into a mixing bowl.
Then add the baking powder.
And the sugar.
And the salt.
Mix all the ingredients together, and then add the stick of butter. And I mean real butter- lovingly provided by happy dairy cows. (No margarine please – this is country cooking, and around here, margarine is just stiff vegetable oil in stick form.)
Using a pastry blender, cut up the butter into the dry ingredients. If you don’t have a pastry blender, you can use a fork, or 2 butter knives.
Keep cutting the butter until you don’t have any pieces bigger than a small pea.
Next, pour in all the milk.
Using a fork, stir the mixture until all of the dry ingredients are absorbed by the milk. Don’t overdue the stirring – when all the dry stuff is gone, you’re done.
Next, sprinkle some flour out on your table or counter. Put the dough on the floured surface.
Then knead the dough 5 or 6 times. To knead, fold it in half, press it down, and turn the dough a quarter turn. Then fold again, press down and turn. Do this 5 or 6 times.
Fold dough
..And press down
This is how the flaky layers are formed. When you’re done with the kneading, flatten the dough out with your hands into a uniform thickness of about ½ inch.
Now for the fun part: using a biscuit cutter, or a drinking glass, cut the biscuits out of the dough. If your cutter is sticking to the dough, dip it in some flour in between each cutting. Carefully place the biscuits on a metal cookie sheet.
Take the remaining dough, and form it into a ball, knead it a couple times, flatten it out, and cut more biscuits.
Here’s how the biscuits look in the pan.
OK, here’s a secret for getting biscuits to rise sky high, as opposed to flat hockey pucks. And here it is.
Underneath all those refrigerator magnets, is the secret: the fridge. Put the pan in the fridge for 10 minutes, before you put it in the oven. Don’t know the technicalities of why this works, but it does. After 10 minutes, take the pan out of the fridge and put it in the oven. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until a beautiful golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven, and immediately remove the biscuits from the pan.
Serve on a plate or serving bowl.
Remember the sky high flakyness I promised? Well here it is.
Cut them in half while still warm and slather with butter, jelly, apple butter, or anything that makes your taste buds happy. Once cooled, store remaining biscuits in a storage container to keep them from drying out. They can be re-warmed in your microwave in about 10 seconds.
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These look SO DARN GOOD!!! I have made homemade biscuits before and they have ALWAYS turned out to be hockey pucks!!! I am so glad I looked through your “The Kitchen” section of your blog and found this recipe. I am going to make these tomorrow!! Tonight I am making my homemade chicken pot pie..and the biscuits and the crust of the pie…too much. So…I will wait til tomorrow to make them! And also, I have to pick up some butter. Please don’t think less of me, but I only have margarine in my fridge right now. I do buy butter a lot, but call me crazy, for some reason I like the way margarine bakes in my chocolate chip cookies…it just makes them perfect. Anyhow, I am so happy that you revealed the secret of putting the uncooked biscuits and tray in the fridge for 10 minutes before baking!!! I can’t wait to pull sky high biscuits out of my oven! Seriously, you made my day, because this is the reason why I always buy them in a can, because I can’t get mine to rise up! Well, now I know the secret!! Thank you, Thank you!!
Hi Bonnie,
I found out the secret to high rise biscuits by accident. I used to live in an old house that was drafty in winter and hot (without air conditioning) in the summer. I would make biscuits year round, but noticed that in the summer they didn’t rise high at all. The only thing I could think of was the difference in temperature in the house, so I put them in the fridge in the summer, and viola, problem solved.
Enjoy your biscuits,
Suzanne
Hi again,
My daughter and I have made your biscuits, real butter (I even went on eBay to purchase a butter crock similar to yours – what a great idea!), and the Parmesan/corn flake chicken. Oh my goodness, the chicken! Our new favorite recipe. We’re looking forward to the noodles and chicken recipe this week. Can’t wait for some more kitchen posts. 🙂
I am really enjoying your photos/writings of your road trip and I love the posting about the old barn. You’re a wonderful writer – very simple, yet richly descriptive.
Hi Catherine,
So glad you enjoyed the recipes. This week I’m doing 2 posts in the Kitchen category, so be sure to stop by for Roasted Chicken, and Refrigerator Pickles.
Thank you!
I have been trying to make biscuit off and on for a couple of months. This is it! I’m not a big time cook and these biscuits came out perfect on the first try. They rose perfectly and were perfect color with layered flaky . Tasted great! I can’t believe it! Putting them in the refrig. for 10 minutes before baking must be the trick. My wife said they looked like her mother’s biscuits. Your instructions and pictures for kneading the dough helped because i did not know the proper technique before and my biscuits did not turn out that great.
thanks, Bob
Hey Bob,
I’m so pleased this worked out for you! Wonderful.
Thanks for letting me know,
Suzanne
Suzanne, again I cannot believe how easy and good these biscuits are! I just ate a cold one with butter and jam. The biscuit was soft as others i made turned firm quickly. And the taste is great eight hours after I baked them.
Thanks Again, Bob Butler
Hi Bob,
Well thank you so much! So glad this recipe worked for you!
Just tried these tonight! 🙂 They are awesome! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Picture here: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7210757&l=c75e46f6e9&id=617464477
Hi Sarah Lynn,
They look wonderful – you did a great job! And that’s a lovely plate too.
You’re most welcome, and thank you.
Hey, I found the recipe while surfing the net, I’d love to try the recipe but have a question, I dont live in the states so was wondering about the weight of a stick of butter could you please let me know how many gms does a stick of butter weigh!
Thanks in advance
Hi KP,
A stick of butter has 113 grams.
Hope this helps!
Your biscuits look absolutely amazing! I have never been able to make a decent biscuit; the dogs won’t even eat them sometimes! My MIL’s advice is always self-rising flour (which I already use) and I’ve heard not to knead the dough. But yours look so good I’m going to try the recipe and cross my fingers!
Hi Cottonlily,
Let me know how they turn out for you. If you have problems, let me know, maybe I can help.
Good luck!
Hello Suzanne,
I wanted to ask you about using buttermilk instead of milk, can I do that? have you tried it, has it worked?
Hi Keninseb,
Substituting buttermilk for the milk is fine. The baking powder amount has to be adjusted though. Use 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder. And add 1/3 teaspoon baking soda. Buttermilk has more acid than regular milk, that’s why the rising agents are adjusted.
Suzanne
I think why they rise up when you refrigerate them is due to the fact that butter gets cold. As it melts and cooks, it makes the biscuits rise and become flaky…
Hi Connie,
Makes sense to me!
Thank you.
Thank you so much!!!
These biscuits just came out of the oven and they are amazing!!! I know what I will be eating the rest of the day. I also have your bread recipe going at the moment. Waiting to punch it down right now, I can’t wait.
I made these biscuits for dinner tonight and they were wonderful! I have never had any luck with making biscuits before. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Hi Kathy,
So glad these worked out for you; wonderful!
I’m going to have to try this recipe. I think the reason the fridge works wonders is it keeps the butter from melting and probably helps it set back up. Melted butter loses it’s moisture content which means it doesn’t put off the steam needed to accomplish flakiness.
We made these this morning. They were great.
Hey Jay,
Wonderful! And didn’t they make your home smell great too? Love makin’ biscuits.
Hello. I just discovered your website. I made these biscuits tonight. My family enjoyed them. My biscuits didn’t rise as well as yours. Any suggestions? Thank you!
Hi Tammy,
Welcome! Did you put them in the fridge before baking?
this is a perfect recipe..I made these this morning.. we had them with homemade sausage gravy…they are light & fluffy and so delicious.. can’t call my biscuits hockey pucks anymore.. ☺
Hi Frosty,
Wonderful!
Yes, I did put them in the fridge. I will keep trying. The biscuits were still delicious:). I’m planning on trying the peach pie next. Never made a real pie crust before. Wish me luck!
Hi Tammy,
Ok I’m stumped. Did you use real butter, and knead the dough a little?
Hi, again, I did all of the above. I will definitely try again…soon!
Hi, Suzanne. I made the biscuits again tonight. They turned out great, plus they are so easy to make!
Great! Glad you enjoyed them Tammy!
I just read this post….I cannot make homemade biscuits….so I will be trying this recipe soon. They look wonderful. I have to admit I really like the ones from the can…sad I know, but want to learn to make some that are edible. This may just be it, thanks.
What is the purpose of the sugar in this recipe? I don’t like sweet biscuits or sweet cornbread. I like buttermilk biscuits and buttermilk cornbread. Have you tired NOT using sugar?
I think I’ll try using real butter in my recipe and put them in the frig and see what happens. I haven’t made biscuits in a long time. I’m also wondering if there is another flour that I can use that would give a similar result. I’m not supposed to eat white flour or white sugar. Makes my arthritis flare-up.
You did a great job on the pictures and walking people through the process.
Hi Laura,
I’ve not tried omitting the sugar from the recipe. As I understand it, sugar inhibits gluten development, so it adds tenderness, it draws water to it so it helps keep things moist, and since sugar caramelizes at 330 degrees it helps in the browning process. I think you could substitute whole wheat flour for the white flour though.
Laura
Try substituting turbinado sugar for the white sugar, it’s unprocessed cane sugar and is brown (“Sugar in the Raw”). I use it in baking all the time. It cooks just likes processed sugar so may meet your dietary constraints against processed “white granular things”.
Your biscuits look great – do you sift the flour for all you recipes? I am going to try these this weekend. I also love the way you explain how to make everything and the pics are yummy to look at!
Hi Katherine,
I’m too lazy to sift flour so I never have. 🙂
I have been looking for the perfect recipe and have finally found it. These are so good and my whole family loves them. Thank your for sharing :). Also, love your website.
You”re very welcome. Thank you!
could I use buttermilk instead of milk?
Substituting buttermilk for the milk is fine. The baking powder amount has to be adjusted though. Use 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder. And add 1/3 teaspoon baking soda. Buttermilk has more acid than regular milk, that’s why the rising agents are adjusted.
Suzanne
I have been testing out different recipes over the year. I have a perfect drop-biscuit recipe. For some reason though the biscuit recipe has eluded me. So I tried yours.
I was a bit skeptical while making it since it was a wetter dough than I am used to for biscuits, though it was nowhere close to the wetness of a drop biscuit dough.
The proof was in the eating. I couldn’t stop eating them, they were so delicious. The rise wasn’t what I’d hoped for, my 3/4″ uncooked biscuits only rose to about an 1″. Do you have any ideas why?
This recipe is too delicious too deny it’s place in my “it’s a keeper” recipe book. The biscuits are flaky and light with the perfect biscuit flavor. Thank you so much! You have a new fan.
Trying rolling them out to a 1/2 inch instead of the 3/4 inch you mentioned. That should work for you.
Delicious! Kids ate them up and so did I. Thanks!
I added cheese and chives and made mini versions of these biscuits for a party. They were a big hit! I’m making more today!
I made these last night And they were by far the best biscuits I have ever made. This recipe will forever be in my recipe box!!
I am wondering if anyone has tried freezing these? I would love to make a bunch and freeze them so I can just pop them in the oven when we want to have biscuits.
Sure, you can bake them until just set, but not browned yet. Then remove from oven, cool, and freeze. When ready to serve, remove from freezer, thaw, preheat oven to temp in recipe, and bake until golden brown.
Hi there,
I have been looking for a good recipe for a while and this one definitely seems like the right one. The only question I have is, can I use salted butter instead of unsalted?
Thanks
Yes you can. Just reduce the amount of salt and you should be fine.
I just made these for the 2nd, time. They were hockey pucks. I do not know what happened. I followed the recipe to the letter. They almost burned this time to and did not hardly rise, but were tender and flaky.
Help!I have tried making these twice and still no luck. Followed the recipe…but they didn’t rise and the bottom got too done after 11 minutes and the top didn’t look cooked at all. Temp in oven is correct and rack in middle.. Any ideas what is happening here?
Darn, sorry this isn’t working for you. Well, did you put them in the fridge before baking? If yes, then it sounds like they need to be moved up a notch in the oven. The bottoms shouldn’t be that dark before the top has a chance to lightly brown. Let me know. Good luck.
Mine turned out GREAT as well. Thanks for the cold fridge tip. One added thing I did just for a little extra buttery flavor.. I added about 3/4 cap full of butter extract to the milk and mixed it up before I poured the milk into the flour mixture. Oh so YUMMY.
Fabulous! They turned out amazingly well!!
Hi well, I tried your recipe last Saturday and I made 18 Biscuits and let’s just say between my 2 year old son and his father/hubby they were gone in an hour. I think i had one right after they came out of the oven. lol Thanks so much
…also do you think this recipe will work as a pie crust?
Never used biscuit dough as a pie crust so don’t know how it would turn out. Sounds yummy though.
These biscuits was SOOOOOOOOO delicious! I tripled the recipe since my family is rather large. They came out buttery and flaky just like I like them. No hockey pucks here. They were the size of the GRANDS BISCUIT. I will never buy a canned biscuit again EVER in this LIFETIME, thanks for this great recipe!
You’re very welcome! Glad you enjoyed them.
I am attempting this recipe right now to go with my cottage pie! I cannot wait. The hubby will think I bought this from the shop lol. These might just become a regular thing with our meals simple and fast! Thank you!
Suzanne,
How can I substitute using self Rising flour instead?
suzanne,
I was wondering if i could substitute using self rising flour instead of all purpose? I never use A/P flour so don’t want to buy it and waste it. Also, I was wondering if there would be a difference in taste and texture?
Yes, you can substitute self rising flour for the all-purpose flour. Just remember to omit the baking powder and salt from the recipe. The only difference between self rising and AP flour is that the self rising has baking powder and salt.
for those having trouble with biscuits … are your ingredients all fresh? need to be sure that your flour and baking powder/soda are not too old and stale. i store mine in the freezer and rotate stock fairly often. if it has been in there for months, try fresher ingredients!
Thank you SO much for the recipe and for the pictures! I love visuals and I absolutely love your style of writing, you’re very funny. (Underneath the magnets is the secret) lol anyway thank you for the recipe! I’m going to attempt it this morning 🙂 happy new year!
I’m making them right now and I’m positive there going to turn out great! (:
They turned out great the 1st time! I’m making them a second time today (:
YAY!!!!
I’m not sure if I’ve lost my touch or if the protein content in flour has changed but I use to make biscuits all the time. I never measured anything, never jumped through hoops or prayed to the baking Gods for help. Lately I’ve done all of the above with no success. I decided to give this recipe a try. It worked great! Just to give a little knowledge that I’ve learned by many attempts to recreate a good biscuit. First, don’t use a non-stick pan or any other pan than a plain old cookie sheet. Second, don’t over think it. I tried everything. I bought new ingredients. I tried 10 different recipes and methods. I drove myself and my family crazy with pans and pans of hockey pucks. Im not a quitter. Lets just say, this recipe made my day! Thank you for your post!
You’re very welcome Jeanie, and Thank you!
Hi im a first time cook and i wanted to make these for my friends and i was just wondering do i use fat free milk or 2% or what kind?
I’ve made this recipe with both 2% and whole milk and both turned out fine. I would go with the whole milk if given the choice though. Happy Baking!
Wow. Just Wow. Been around 53 years, Mama and Grannie both made wonderful biscuits, but not me. Finally tried the Angel biscuit method (yeast) which works great. But this…this is nothing short of genius to me! Can’t wait to see your other recipes and read about your life. Daddy was a ranch cowboy in Arizona all his life. We had a lot of fun. Found you from comment you left on PW Cooks. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you Anna! So glad you enjoyed the biscuits, and hope you’ll try some of my other recipes too. Take care, Suzanne
Waiting for mine to come out in the oven haha!
I was wondering though why isn’t there eggs in this
Cuz I never tried making biscuits cuz I’m 14
Lol it’s almost Easter so I thought I’d try something 🙂 to make
Hope they turn out!
I just made these and thought you should know *bends on one knee* I love you please marry me!
Seriously though these are awesome but I only got 9 biscuits out of them. I spread some homemade blueberry jam on them and man i cant stop eating.
Tee hee…so glad you are enjoying these. Only 9? What size biscuit cutter did you use?
I used a glass, I guess it was too big
Made them this morning.. turned out great. Got a big pot of sausage gravy going now.. taking breakfast for the overtime crew at the office today (including myself). As others commented.. it is the cold that makes them turn out so well. Cutting the butter into the flour softens it. Putting them in the fridge gets it cold again and aids in making the dough rise better. I used my old Pampered Chef round stone.. wasn’t thinking.. but it didn’t crack from putting it cold into a hot oven (thankfully). By the way.. this is the first time my biscuit tops and bottoms “matched” in color at the same time…lol.. Thanks for the recipe!
Yay!! Glad you like the recipe! Mmmmm…Sausage and gravy….
I must say these are the best biscuits! Like many I am always searching for a good recipe, but wanted something easy. Well, these are easy and oh so delicious. I sent the recipe to my mom and she made them and said they ate them all, and my dad has proclaimed, “NO MORE CANNED BISCUITS ALLOWED!” Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Sharon! Just no comparison between homemade and canned. 🙂