Buttery, flaky, and fluffy mouthwatering buttermilk biscuits that are so easy and perfect for Sunday morning brunch, or as a quick accompaniment to a bowl of chili or a weeknight meal! Crisp on the outside and oh so tender and soft on the inside, these biscuits are the bomb! They are a family favorite and come together in less than 30-minutes, but taste like you spent all day making them. My favorite part of these is that I can use my “discard” from my sourdough starter and not waste it!

I love these biscuits and make them every single week!  I like to serve them on their own with a pat of grass-fed butter and homemade jam, or use Sunday morning’s leftovers to make cage free egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches for my family to have during the week!  With only a few simple ingredients, feel free to add any herbs or spices to give them a little kick!  I know you will love these as much as we do!

Tips for Flaky Fluffy Biscuits

• No Buttermilk? No Problem: If you do not have buttermilk, you can make your own.  Just take 3 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, or fresh lemon juice and add it to a measuring cup.  Fill the rest of the cup to the 3/4 cup line (plus the extra 2 tablespoons) with your milk of choice, I prefer to use whole milk for this, and set aside in the refrigerator for 5-minutes before using.
• Don’t Over Knead.  When kneading the dough, do not overwork it.  Due to the quick rising agents in buttermilk biscuits, you do not want to overwork the gluten resulting in a tough, dense biscuit.
• Ice Cold Butter.  Make sure your butter is COLD! This ensure that bits of butter are distributed throughout the dough versus getting mixed in ensuring light fluffy biscuits.
• Don’t Twist. Press the cutter straight up and down when cutting your biscuits. Do NOT twist the cutter as this will seal the edges of the biscuit hindering the rise!
• Fold Remaining Dough. If you want to use up all the dough, like I do, then be sure to gently fold the dough back together without over working it.
• Keep Apart: When setting the cut biscuits on the baking pan, place them at least 1/2″- 1″ apart and do not let them touch.  They will rise and expand and if they are too close they may hinder the rise of each other.

Why Sourdough is So Good for You!

Have you ever wondered why sourdough is considered a healthier bread?  There are several reasons why sourdough is a great choice when looking for a tasty and nutrient dense bread.  Sourdough bread is rich in fiber, minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium, vitamins B1 (thiamine), B3 (niacin), B5 (riboflavin) and B9 (folate).

Sourdough bread can be easier to digest for those with gluten sensitivities.  I do NOT recommend eating sourdough bread if you have celiacs disease or any type of severe sensitivity to gluten without checking with your physician first.  One of the reasons sourdough can be more digestible for those with gluten sensitivities is due to the long fermentation process that sourdough bread undergoes. This allows for the wild yeast and bacteria present from your starter to break down proteins and carbohydrates (fructans) found in the flour [1].

Sourdough bread can be helpful for individuals working to maintain more stable blood sugar levels as it has a lower glycemic index, which supports healthier blood sugar regulation by reducing the potential for a severe blood glucose spike due to its slower absorption.  This is thought to occur due to the fermentation process and how the carbohydrates are broken down and changed [2].

Why Organic Unbleached Flour vs. Conventional Flour

If you do a lot of home baking like do it’s important to choose your ingredients wisely, let’s unpack why I only buy and use organic unbleached flours when I bake.

Why Organic?  Organic flour is milled from grains that have been grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.  By using organic flour in your baked goods, you are also increasing the nutrition found in the foods you create.  Organic grains have higher levels of zinc, magnesium and protein than their conventional counterparts [3].

Why Unbleached? Bleached flour is refined, and that is enough reason to cut it out of your diet!  During the processing of refined foods such as flours, sugars and oils, the key and essential nutrients get stripped away, yielding a product that is nutritionally void.  Chemicals you say?  Why yes! Bleached flours are full of chemicals, such as potassium bromide which has been shown to be a carcinogen linked to kidney and thyroid cancer [4]. 

So grab your sourdough starter and let’s get cooking!

Buttermilk Sourdough Biscuit Ingredients

Makes 10-14 Biscuits

200 Grams or approximately 3/4 cup of Sourdough Starter

350 Grams or 2.5 cups Unbleached Organic Bread Flour

1 cup Full Fat Buttermilk

1 tsp Fine Sea Salt or Pink Salt

1 tsp Pure Baking Soda

2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 cup Cold Grass-Fed Butter

How to Make Buttermilk Sourdough Biscuits

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

2. Onto a cutting board or counter top lined with parchment paper, grate your butter and set back into the freezer until you’re ready to add it.

3. In a medium bowl, combine your sourdough starter and the buttermilk. Stir with a spatula for a few minutes until the mixture is well combined, set back in the refrigerator to keep cold.

4. In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and whisk or stir with a fork to evenly combine. 

5.  Stir in the cold grated butter to the flour mixture.

6.  Add the buttermilk and sourdough mixture to the flour mixture and fold until a rough dough forms.  Turn the dough out onto a clean counter and gently knead until the dough just comes together.

• If you dough feels a bit dry, add more whole milk 1 Tablespoon at a time.  You want it to come together without being too wet.

7.  Shape into a circle and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about a 1.5″-2″ thickness. 

8.  Using a 1.5″-2″ cookie cutter, cut out as many biscuits as you can, transferring them to a parchment linked baking sheet.

9.  With the leftover dough, gently press the leftover dough together bringing the outsides in towards the middle, and flip the dough over onto its side. 

• Fold in half and roll out the dough to 1.5″-2″ inch thickness and cut more biscuits out. 
• Repeat until all of the dough has been made into biscuits (you will have some dough leftover, I usually bake this separately as a “taste test!”
• These biscuits typically do not rise as high, but are still just as delicious!

10. Bake the biscuits for 15-18 minutes until golden brown

Like this Video? Subscribe to my YouTube cooking channel for healthy, whole food recipes! Want to be notified when I post a new video? Click on the bell icon and you’ll get a notification when new recipes are uploaded! Happy Healthy Eating!!

FAQs

Q: Do I have to refrigerate or freeze the butter before adding it to the biscuit flour mixture?

A: I do since the cold butter is what gives these decadent buttermilk biscuits their lovely airy, buttery, and tender texture.

Q: How long will buttermilk sourdough biscuits last?

A: I typically keep them in an airtight container at room temperature up to 24-hours, anything that I know we won’t eat that quickly I store in a freezer bag in the freezer up to 2-weeks!

Q: What is the best way to make homemade buttermilk if I don’t have any?

A: Honestly, you just need a little acid and some whole milk. I like to add about 1 Tablespoon of acid (fresh lemon juice, ACV, white vinegar) to a liquid measuring cup and then fill to the line with milk. Stir it well and allow it to sit for at least 5-minutes in the fridge before adding it to your biscuits.

Note: This post contains Amazon affiliate links to the products and kitchen gear I love. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Almond Milk and Cookies!