Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

These homemade flaky buttermilk biscuits are flaky on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. Best of all they can be prepared in 30 minutes!

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings biscuits

Calories 262kcal

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix until combined.
Grate the cold butter using a cheese grater. This is an easy way to get it into small pieces to incorporate in the dry ingredients. If you do not have a cheese grater, you can just cut into small cubes. Blend the grated butter in with the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or 2 knives. The mixture should be clumpy and look like course crumbs. Throw bowl in freezer for 15 minutes.
Create a well in the center of mixture and add buttermilk and honey. Stir everything together with a spatula until just combined - do not overwork the dough.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Pat it into a rough rectangle, about one inch thick. Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Stack each piece on top of each other and press down to flatten.
Gently pat out the dough once more into a rough rectangle until it's about ¾ inch thick. Cut the biscuit with a 3-inch biscuit cutter or floured glass. Re-roll any scraps until you get 7-8 biscuits total.
Brush skillet with a little butter or vegetable oil and arrange biscuits so they are touching. Brush the tops of each biscuit with melted butter. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. If after 20 minutes, they aren't browned on top just turn broiler on for a minute until browned. Remove from oven and brush with some melted butter.

Use cold butter: It is super important to use cold butter. You want pockets and layers and when the butter melts as the biscuits bake, it releases steam which creates pockets of air. This makes them flaky on the inside, but crisp on the outside. To do this I throw the butter in the freezer for 15 minutes before using.
Buttermilk and honey: The acidity as well as the fat from the buttermilk works in conjunction with the baking powder to help the dough rise, while the honey helps balance the salt out.
Do not overmix: The key to good flaky buttermilk biscuits is not overworking the dough! I repeat, you DO NOT overwork the dough. You want to form the dough until it just comes together.
Create layers: You create layers by cutting 4 pieces of the dough and stacking them on top of each other and pressing down.
Do not twist biscuit cutter: It is important to not twist the cutter when cutting out your biscuits. Just press the cutter down firmly. By twisting, you actually seal the edges and prevent the biscuits from rising.
Bake close together: If you want biscuits to really rise, they rise more when they are touching. It prevents them from spreading out when baking.