The Inspiration.
This recipe for flaky buttermilk biscuits has been in development since about 2003. That was the year when I first entered biscuits in our 4-H baking division. As I remember I was very excited about my culinary project as any 7 year old can be!
As my mom and us 4 kids loaded up the mini van that early August morning, we all had no idea as to the fate of those beloved biscuits…
By the time we had the van loaded with all of our projects as well as any other last minute things we may need, we were already running a little behind.
As we started to get into the van, we found our old matriarch of the litter of barn cats there in the back of mom’s van… She sat there looking at us while she licked crumbs of MY biscuits off of her whiskers.
The Biscuits.
If you are new to the 4-H realm, in the baking division of 4-H you often can only enter the best 4 of your baked good products for the judge to review.
Having been a “pro” of 4-H at my seasoned 7 years, mom and I had pulled aside the absolute BEST looking 4 biscuits for the 4-H project. And since there were leftover biscuits, we proceeded to make biscuits and gravy with the rest of them.
As a part of a family of 6, you can guess that there weren’t any spare biscuits once breakfast was over.
Needless to say…we did not end up having enough flaky buttermilk biscuits to replace what the barn cat had eaten.
My spunky mom however, reminded me that even though we were short a biscuit, the rest of the biscuits would have to make up in flavor to the one biscuit we were missing.
Quality over quantity!
The Buttermilk.
The one issue I have found with flaky buttermilk biscuits is one of the key parts of this recipe. The buttermilk!
This isn’t an ingredient I readily keep in my fridge. About the only time I use buttermilk is for pancakes or these biscuits.
BUT…there’s always a loophole, right?
Long ago, I learned a quick trick to make your own buttermilk. Simply add 1.5 teaspoons of lemon juice per 1 cup of regular milk and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
The addition of the acid-rich lemon juice (or white vinegar if you don’t have lemon juice) slightly curdles the milk to create a liquid similar to buttermilk in taste.
READ MORE => Kitchen Hacks: How To Make Buttermilk
The Aftermath.
Though she could never have guessed that her prediction would come true, my mom was indeed correct. The quality of the biscuits did outshine the lack of having a complete set of 4 to be judged.
That year brought about purple ribbons for my incomplete set of biscuits (mother cat approved!), and plenty of material for other speaking opportunities.
With this recipe, I hope you and your family enjoy these buttermilk biscuits as much as my own family….and the cat too…
NOTE: This recipe goes very well with Homestyle Chicken & Biscuits.
READ MORE => Homestyle Chicken & Biscuits
Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 4 Cups Flour
- 4 Tsp. Baking Powder
- 1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
- 1 Tbsp. Sugar
- 1 Tsp. Salt
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter (2 sticks) Cut into cubes
- 1 Cup Buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
- Using a pastry blender (or a fork), incorporate butter into dry ingredients, creating pea-sized chunks of the mix.
- Fold in buttermilk until thick dough forms. If you don't have buttermilk handy in the fridge, check out this Buttermilk Substitute that works great for recipes!
- Lightly flour a clean surface and place dough onto surface. Knead dough 6-10 times. You don't want to over knead biscuit dough, but want to at least incorporate a little more flour into the dough to make it easier to shape into biscuits.
- Cut dough into 2-3 pieces, rolling each piece into a rectangular shape about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.
- Stack the rectangular pieces of dough on top of each other. Cut 2-3 inch round biscuits out of the dough. Place cut out biscuits onto greased baking sheet.
- Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.
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