Homemade Fluffy Biscuits from Scratch Recipe
This homemade biscuit recipe delivers light, flaky, and buttery biscuits that are perfect for breakfast or as a side to any meal. Made with cold butter and simple pantry staples, these biscuits come together quickly and bake to a golden perfection in just 12 minutes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings
- Category: Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Wet Ingredients
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold (85g), preferably European butter
- ¾ cup whole milk (177ml), buttermilk or 2% milk also work
Instructions
- Chill Butter: Place unsalted butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes to ensure it is very cold which helps create light and flaky biscuits.
- Preheat Oven: Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper; set aside.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt, mixing thoroughly.
- Prepare Butter: Remove butter from the fridge and cut it into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter or grate it with a box grater to create small pieces. Stir to distribute evenly.
- Combine to Coarse Crumbs: Work the butter into the flour mixture until the texture resembles coarse crumbs with visible small pieces of butter.
- Add Milk: Pour in the milk and stir gently with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined; avoid over-mixing to keep dough tender.
- Work Dough: Transfer dough to a floured surface and gently bring it together with hands. Add flour if too sticky to handle properly.
- Fold Dough: Fold the dough over itself, flatten layers slightly, rotate 90 degrees and fold again. Repeat this folding 5-6 times carefully without overworking.
- Flatten Dough: Using hands (not a rolling pin), flatten dough to about 1 inch thickness. Lightly flour a 2 ¾ inch biscuit cutter.
- Cut Biscuits: Press the cutter straight down into dough close to each other. Place the cut biscuits on the prepared baking sheet with less than ½ inch spacing.
- Rework Scraps: Collect remaining dough scraps, gently rework to form at least 2 more biscuits.
- Bake: Bake biscuits in preheated oven at 425°F for 12 minutes or until tops turn lightly golden brown.
- Finish & Serve: Optional: brush warm biscuits with melted salted butter once out of the oven. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Notes
- Using very cold butter is key for flaky texture.
- Do not overwork the dough to keep biscuits tender.
- You can substitute whole milk with buttermilk or 2% milk.
- Biscuit cutter size affects biscuit yield and size.
- Serve warm for best flavor and texture.
