Description

This recipe for homemade biscuits yields light, flaky, and buttery biscuits perfect for breakfast or as a side dish. Using very cold butter and layering the dough ensures tender, flaky layers with a golden-brown crust. Simple ingredients like all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter, and milk come together quickly for comforting, bakery-style biscuits made right in your oven.

Ingredients

Scale

Dry Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients

6 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter (85g), preferably European butter
¾ cup whole milk (177ml) (buttermilk or 2% milk can also be used)

Instructions

Chill Butter: Place the unsalted butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes to ensure it is very cold, which is essential for creating light and flaky biscuits.
Preheat Oven: Set your oven to 425°F (220°C) and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper; set it aside to prepare for baking.
Mix Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt thoroughly to ensure even distribution of leavening agents and seasoning.
Incorporate Butter: Remove the chilled butter and either cut it into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or grate it with a box grater, then mix until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with small bits of butter visible.
Add Milk: Pour in the milk and gently stir with a wooden spoon or spatula just until the dough comes together; avoid over-mixing to prevent tough biscuits.
Form Dough: Transfer the dough onto a well-floured work surface and gently bring it together with your hands. If sticky, add a bit more flour until manageable.
Fold Dough Layers: Fold the dough in half over itself, gently flatten with your hands, rotate 90 degrees, and repeat folding 5-6 times to create layers without overworking.
Shape Dough: Gently press the dough to about 1 inch thickness; avoid using a rolling pin. Lightly flour a 2 ¾ inch round biscuit cutter.
Cut Biscuits: Press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough without twisting and transfer the cut biscuit to the prepared baking sheet, placing biscuits less than ½ inch apart.
Re-roll Dough: Gently gather the remaining dough, reshape, and cut out additional biscuits until you have at least six in total.
Bake: Place the biscuits in the preheated oven and bake for 12 minutes or until the tops are just beginning to turn lightly golden brown.
Finishing Touch: Optional – brush freshly baked biscuits with melted salted butter immediately after removing them from the oven for extra flavor and shine. Serve warm.

Notes

Using very cold butter (chilled or frozen briefly) is key to achieving flaky biscuit layers.
Do not overwork the dough to keep biscuits tender rather than tough.
A box grater is a preferred tool for incorporating butter evenly into the flour.
You can substitute buttermilk or 2% milk for whole milk but whole milk yields richer flavor.
Biscuits are best served fresh and warm, but can be reheated gently in an oven.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Category: Baking
Method: Baking
Cuisine: American

Keywords: homemade biscuits, flaky biscuits, easy biscuit recipe, breakfast biscuits, buttery biscuits