Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits
Despite the name, buttermilk isn’t buttery high-fat milk. The name actually refers to how buttermilk was originally made: it was the milky liquid left over after the butter-churning process. Nowadays, buttermilk is cultured by reintroducing lactic-acid bacteria to pasteurized low-fat milk, giving it a slightly tangy flavor with a thicker-than-regular-milk texture.
And it’s also the secret ingredient to making some of the fluffiest biscuits ever. Using just five ingredients, you can make the comfort-food classic from scratch. Enjoy them fresh from the oven slathered with butter and jam or Seattle Bagel Bakery’s Cinnamon Honey Butter. Better yet, top with creamy sausage gravy for a hearty Southern breakfast.
Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits
What you need
- 2-1/2 cups flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 tbsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup very cold Smith Brothers Farms Unsalted Butter, cubed
- 1 cup very cold Smith Brothers Farms Buttermilk, plus an additional 2 tablespoons of buttermilk for brushing
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425F. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut butter into small cubes, and cut into dry mixture with a pastry cutter until small crumbs form. (If you don't have a pastry cutter, use your hands to break up the butter, but work quickly!)
Create a well in the middle of the mixture and pour in the cold buttermilk. Mix together with hands until dough is just combined, and looks stringy. Turn dough out on to a lightly floured surface, and form into a rectangle. Fold one side over into the center of the rectangle, and then the other. Rotate 90 degrees, and flatten again. Repeat folding, rotating and flattening once more, and roll out into a half-inch thick rectangle.
Using a biscuit cutter, cut circles out of dough, and place on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Roll dough out again from scraps and cut more biscuits. Brush tops of biscuits with remaining buttermilk, and bake for 14 minutes. Remove and let cool for five minutes.
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