Looking for a biscuit recipe that tastes better than the biscuits you’re currently making? The search stops here! Grandma’s Southern buttermilk biscuits, inspired by Divas Can Cook, are scrumptiously fluffy, tender, and beyond delicious.
These Southern-style buttermilk biscuits are so easy to pull together, you’ll find yourself making excuses to serve biscuits for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Best yet, they make an exceptional accompaniment to your special holiday meals.
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Cold ingredients are key. One of the biggest mistakes biscuit-bakers make is using room temperature ingredients. The best biscuits must, must, must be made with cold fats and liquids. The cold shortening and grated cold butter get trapped in the dry ingredients. As the biscuits bake, the fats melt and create layers in the dough, resulting in that coveted flakiness that biscuit-lovers crave. Cold buttermilk helps keep the fats cold. Work quickly as you make the biscuit dough so your fats don’t get warm.
Handle the dough gently. Every time you knead and fold your biscuit dough, you’re developing gluten. Gluten is good for bread, but it isn’t good for biscuits because it results in a dense texture. Work quickly, work gently, and fold your dough just a few times.
Cut wisely. Make sure your biscuit cutter has a sharp edge that effortlessly cuts through the dough. If you have to twist the cutter to cut through the dough, you need a new cutter. A sharp edge is essential to make a clean cut, which keeps your biscuits uniform in shape and allows them to get the highest rise in the oven. Twisting the cutter seals the sides of the dough and hinders their height while baking.
Now that you’ve got grandma’s Southern buttermilk biscuits recipe and our fail-safe biscuit-making tips, it’s time to get in your kitchen and get baking.
Mix together dry ingredients
Into a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and sugar.
Add shortening and butter
Cold fat — shortening and butter — gives these biscuits the perfect texture and taste. Using a pastry blender, cut the cold butter-flavored shortening into the flour mixture. Using a hand-held grater, grate the cold butter into the mixture, tossing occasionally. Why the grater? To keep your fingers from warming up the cold butter. Cold fats mean flaky biscuits.
Stir in buttermilk
Add buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir to form a wet, sticky dough.
Knead the dough
Lightly flour your work surface and dump the dough onto the flour. Sprinkle the dough with flour and use your hands to knead and fold the dough. Fold the dough over several times, creating layers.
Cut the dough into biscuits
Pat the dough into a 1-inch rectangle. Dip a biscuit cutter in flour and cut the dough into 15 biscuits. Just press the cutter down into the dough and resist the urge to twist the cutter.
Bake the biscuits
Place biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Lightly brush each biscuit with cold mayonnaise. Bake for 14 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown. If you prefer a darker color, place the biscuits under the broiler for the last 2 minutes of baking.
Brush with butter and serve warm
Cold ingredients are necessary for making the biscuit dough but warm butter is the finishing touch. Remove the biscuits from the oven and immediately brush them with melted butter. Serve warm.
It’s hard to beat homemade biscuits just out of the oven!
A great compliment to any meal
So tender and flakey!
Enjoy warm with butter and honey for a special treat!
Grandma's Southern buttermilk biscuits
Yield 8-10 servings
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup butter-flavored shortening, cold
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
- 1 cup buttermilk, cold
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, cold, for brushing
- melted butter, for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, baking
- soda, and sugar.
- Cut in butter-flavored shortening with a pastry blender.
- Grate in butter, tossing occasionally.
- Stir in buttermilk until dough is wet and sticky.
- Generously flour a work surface.
- Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
- Sprinkle a small amount of flour on the dough. Gently knead and fold the dough. Add more flour as needed.
- Fold the dough over several times, creating layers. These layers make the biscuits light and fluffy.
- Pat the dough into a 1-inch-thick rectangle.
- Dip the biscuit cutter into flour and cut the biscuits. Do not twist the cutter while cutting the dough.
- Place biscuits on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Brush the tops of the biscuits with a very light coating of mayonnaise.
- Bake for 14 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits are golden. (For a darker golden color, place the biscuits under the broiler for the last 2 minutes.)
- Remove the biscuits from the oven and brush them with melted butter.
- Serve warm.
Courses Bread
