Name: Easy Buttermilk Biscuits
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups self-rising flour (about 14 ounces), plus more; 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; 1 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter (10 ounces), cubed; 1 cup cold buttermilk; 1 large egg, beaten; 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon (optional)

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits — Photo:
Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling by Amelia Rampe

Active Time:

15 mins

Total Time:

35 mins

Yield:

15 small biscuits

With just six ingredients, these biscuits are a simple, quick, impressive side to serve with any meal - breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They’re best served warm, but you can prep them up to two months in advance and keep them frozen until you are ready to bake. Food & Wine recipe developer Anna Theoktisto swears by self-rising flour, such as the White Lily brand, for light and airy biscuits.

Buttermilk is key to these delectable biscuits. While today, most commercial buttermilk is now made by inoculated fresh milk with cultures, it originally came from the process of making butter out of cultured cream. Beating or churning the cream solidifies the fat to create butter; the liquid leftover is buttermilk. If the buttermilk is left out overnight, bacteria produce lactic acid to help ferment the milk, giving it its signature lightly sour flavor. The buttermilk in these biscuits adds a tangy flavor and lift as the acid works with the baking powder in self-rising flour to give it a fluffier interior crumb and more rise.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups self-rising flour (about 14 ounces), plus more as needed
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter (10 ounces), cubed
1 cup cold buttermilk
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, such as Maldon (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Stir together flour and sugar in a large bowl. Using 2 forks or a pastry blender, cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in cold buttermilk until a shaggy dough forms.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough into a rectangle, and cut into fourths. Stack each fourth on top of each other, and pat into a rectangle again. Repeat cutting and stacking procedure. Roll dough into a 10- x 8-inch rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 15 (2- x 21/2-inch) rectangles. Arrange rectangles about 1/4 inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Freeze until cold, about 10 minutes. Brush with egg; sprinkle with salt, if desired.
Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; serve warm.

Notes

Substitute self-rising flour with an equal amount of all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.