Flaky Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits: A Recipe from the Farm

Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by TheFarmChicken

Biscuits on a serving board with butter and jam

I was trying to decide what these fluffy biscuits resemble for the sake of helping you experience them through a computer screen, and I decided they are like a cloud. So soft but also flaky and tender. Have you ever made biscuits from scratch. I know the canned biscuits are pretty good, but no biscuit compares to a homemade buttermilk biscuit. So very good! Let’s look at how to make these Flaky Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits: A Recipe from the Farm.

Biscuits, aside from measuring shortening…which is probably my least favorite thing to measure in the kitchen…are one of my favorite things to bake. They always pop up so fun and don’t really take as long to make as one might think.

You measure out the ingredients, mix them up, knead them, pat them, cut them out and bake! Really, if you want to feel like Susie Homemaker then throw on an apron and make some homemade biscuits for your family or friends.

I love the feeling of making food on the farm with my hands for my family and friends. The memories that go along with it I treasure. As I was recipe testing these sourdough buttermilk biscuits, I was reminded about a little saying I used to say as a child while I watched by mom measure out dry ingredients. The different colors of white were interesting to me, and I would say as a little jingle “Some whites are white, and some whites are whiter!” Definitely stating the obvious but it’s a memory that has stuck with me.

I hope you enjoy making these sourdough buttermilk biscuits, a recipe from our farm to your home. Make sure to eat them warm from the oven, truly the best part of a homemade biscuit. This might just be your new favorite buttermilk biscuit recipe.

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The Ingredients for the Biscuit Dough:

Ingredients for biscuits on the counter

Flour:

I use an all-purpose flour for these flaky biscuits. You want lower protein flour to get your most tender biscuits. Higher protein flour, like bread flour, means higher gluten content and that means stronger gluten strands.

Baking Powder & Baking Soda

Both of these ingredients are crucial to a good spring or rise on your biscuit. The baking soda reacts nicely to the buttermilk too, helping them be even more fluffy and “cloud” like!

Salt:

Not too much and not too little. I wanted to find the balance so that there wasn’t an excessive amount of salt in these biscuits. Something that is easy to use too much of.

Butter:

I did half butter and half shortening in this recipe for the fat. The cold butter aids in the flakiness but also gives it an elevated flavor that shortening just doesn’t have by itself. Butter gives the best flavor of the two and a beautiful golden-brown color to the biscuits.

Shortening:

The other half of the fat in this recipe is shortening. Shortening is a great way to add softness and flakiness to your baked goods. I loathe measuring it, but I do enjoy what it does for these biscuits!

Buttermilk:

One of the “secret” ingredients. Buttermilk adds a loft, a flavor and a deliciousness to these biscuit that would be missing otherwise. Buttermilk truly makes a great biscuit.

Sourdough Starter/Sourdough Discard:

You can add this to your list of sourdough discard recipes. This is a great way to use up some of your extra starter or sourdough discard that you have. It also works to use active sourdough starter. You need a ½ cup of sourdough starter. I usually don’t have a lot of discard as I bake with my starter fairly often, but I do enjoy using it when I do have it.

Oh, and also a contributor to the texture of these flaky sourdough biscuits and it adds a little sourdough tang!

Do you still need to make a sourdough starter? Agnes would love to help. Check this out for everything you need to know about sourdough and making your own.

Close up of buttermilk biscuits with butter and jam

Ways to Serve Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits:

  • Sausage Gravy with Biscuits
  • Biscuits and Egg
  • Biscuits with Butter and Jam
  • Soup with biscuits
  • Chicken Pot Pie Filling with Biscuits

How to Reheat Homemade Biscuits so they aren’t soggy:

I didn’t enjoy leftover biscuits very much. They were always kind of soggy and not very good. Then I decided to try to warm them up in the oven using a casserole dish and that did the trick. They stay flaky and not soggy.

To reheat leftover biscuits:

  1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
  2. Add the biscuits to a casserole dish that has a lid.
  3. Place the casserole dish in the oven with the lid on for 20 minutes.
  4. Remove from the oven and serve.

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Sourdough Biscuit Pin Image

Flaky Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits: A Recipe from the Farm

  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter, cold and chopped finely
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 2/3 cup buttermilk, cold
  • ½ cup sourdough starter or discard, cold
  • In a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Next, add the butter and shortening to the flour mixture and cut into the dry ingredients with either a fork or pastry cutter. You want the butter and shortening to be in small pieces.
  • Once the mixture resembles fine crumbs add the buttermilk and sourdough starter/discard.
  • Mix until the biscuit dough starts coming away from the large bowl and then transfer to a clean work surface. It will become shaggy dough and still be “crumbly”.
  • Once it is on the clean work surface take and knead the biscuit dough by hand 10-12 times. Be careful not to overwork the dough.
  • Next, pat the ball of dough until it is a circle and about 1 inch thick. You could probably use a rolling pin too, but I find my hands work well and help them not get too thin.
  • Using a biscuit cutter cut biscuits and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Make sure they don’t touch.
  • TIP: You want to make sure to push the biscuit cutter straight down and back up. Don’t twist the biscuit cutter when you are cutting the biscuits.
  • Take the remaining dough and knead it slightly together again and cut out more biscuits until the dough is all gone.
  • Bake in a preheated 450-degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are a light golden brown. If you have the convection oven option, use that.
  • Remove from the oven and transfer the biscuits to a wire cooling rack. Serve warm and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy these homemade sourdough biscuits; it is such a quick recipe. If you have any questions or comments leave them below. Also, I’d love to hear how they turn out. Just leave a review below!

Mariah N. | TheFarmChicken
Close up of buttermilk biscuit with butter and jam

Flaky Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits: A Recipe from the Farm

No biscuit compares to a homemade buttermilk biscuit. I hope you enjoy making these sourdough buttermilk biscuits, a recipe from our farm to your home. Make sure to eat them warm from the oven, truly the best part of a homemade biscuit.
Print Recipe
Close up of buttermilk biscuit with butter and jam

Ingredients

  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter cold and chopped finely
  • ¼ cup shortening
  • 2/3 cup buttermilk cold
  • ½ cup sourdough starter or discard cold

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Next, add the butter and shortening to the flour mixture and cut into the dry ingredients with either a fork or pastry cutter. You want the butter and shortening to be in small pieces.
  • Once the mixture resembles fine crumbs add the buttermilk and sourdough starter/discard.
  • Mix until the biscuit dough starts coming away from the large bowl and then transfer to a clean work surface. It will become shaggy dough and still be “crumbly”.
  • Once it is on the clean work surface take and knead the biscuit dough by hand 10-12 times. Be careful not to overwork the dough.
  • Next, pat the ball of dough until it is a circle and about 1 inch thick. You could probably use a rolling pin too, but I find my hands work well and help them not get too thin.
  • Using a biscuit cutter cut biscuits and place them on an ungreased baking sheet. Make sure they don’t touch. You want to make sure to push the biscuit cutter straight down and back up. Don’t twist the biscuit cutter when you are cutting the biscuits.
  • Take the remaining dough and knead it slightly together again and cut out more biscuits until the dough is all gone.
  • Bake in a preheated 450-degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are a light golden brown. If you have the convection oven option, use that.
  • Remove from the oven and transfer the biscuits to a wire cooling rack. Serve warm and enjoy!

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FAQ:

Is it better to use milk or buttermilk in biscuits?

Buttermilk is better. Buttermilk has an acidity that reacts with the baking soda making them rise better and have a tangy flavor that regular milk doesn’t.

What is the best flour for buttermilk biscuits?

I like using an all-purpose flour for my biscuits. Low protein flour is best.

What is the difference between buttermilk biscuits and regular biscuits?

Just as the name identifies, buttermilk biscuits have buttermilk whereas a regular biscuit does not. Regular biscuits usually use milk to as their liquid.

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Micah 7:7
Olive egger eggs in hand

11 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I wanted a fluffy buttermilk biscuit recipe like my regular tried and true Betty Crocker recipe, but that incorporated sourdough. Yours was a blend of their regular and rich versions with a 1/4 cup added flour and 2 extra tablespoons of butter/fat, and besides, your biscuits picture looked the yummiest to me. They’ve turned delicious. Only thing I did differently was that I sifted the flour and dry leavening together first, used my hands rather than a pastry cutter, and omitted all the butter to go more with their regular, cost-cutting version. I’m sure they would have been extra rich and delicious with the added butter. Thank you very much! I’m grateful for another delicious way to use my discard.

    1. I love reading things like this! Thank you for sharing! I do love that little bit of butter for a rounded flavor but I grew up eating a biscuit with just shortening and had no complaints! Ha!

    1. Yes! I think so just be sure not to overwork your dough. I would probably try coconut oil before vegan butter and I think it would work fine. Especially if coconut oil is solid…

  2. Just made these with coconut milk (all I had) and coconut oil in place of the shortening. They are so good!! Will definitely be using this recipe again!

    1. Oh nice! I’ve never done them with coconut oil or milk. I’m glad you loved them. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

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