Yield: 6-8
Adapted from: Sally’s Baking Addiction
These homemade biscuits are soft and buttery with dozens of flaky layers. This biscuit recipe requires just 7 ingredients and they’re ready in about 35 minutes.
Cook: 35
- 2½cups AP flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for hands and work surface
- 1TBS baking powder (see Note)
- ½tsp baking soda (see Note)
- 1tsp salt
- ½cup (8 TBS) unsalted butter, cubed and very cold
- 1cup + 2 TBS cold buttermilk, divided
-or-
- ¼cup Saco buttermilk powder
- 1cup + 2 TBS ice water
- 2tsp honey
Optional topping:
- 2TBS butter, melted
- 1TBS honey
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Make the biscuits: Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, Saco buttermilk powder (if using), and salt in a large bowl or in a large food processor. Whisk or pulse until combined. Add the cubed butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or by pulsing several times in the processor. Cut/pulse until coarse crumbs form.
If you use a food processor, pour the mixture into a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour 1 cup of buttermilk or water (for buttermilk powder) into the well and drizzle honey on top. Using a large spoon or spatula, fold until it begins to come together. Do not overwork the dough. The dough will be shaggy and crumbly with some wet spots.
Pour the dough and any dough crumbles onto a floured work surface and gently bring together with generously floured hands. The dough will become sticky as you bring it together. Have extra flour nearby and use it often to flour your hands and work surface as needed in this step. Using floured hands, flatten into a ¾-inch-thick rectangle as best you can. Fold one side into the center, then the other side on top. Turn the dough 90 degrees, so it’s now horizontal. Gently flatten into a ¾-inch-thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding again. Turn the dough horizontally one more time. Gently flatten into a ¾-inch-thick rectangle. Repeat the folding one last time. Flatten into the final ¾-inch-thick rectangle.
Cut into 2.5- or 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter. (Tip: Do not twist the biscuit cutter when pressing down into the dough because this seals off the edges of the biscuit which prevents them from fully rising.) Re-roll scraps until all the dough is used. You should have about 8–11 biscuits. Arrange in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet (see Note) or close together on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Make sure the biscuits are touching.
Brush the tops with remaining buttermilk (use milk if using buttermilk powder). Bake for 18–20 minutes or until tops are golden-brown.
Remove from the oven. If adding the optional topping, whisk the melted butter and honey together. Using a pastry brush, brush the warm biscuits with honey butter topping. Serve warm.
Cover leftovers tightly and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Make ahead & freezing instructions: Baked biscuits freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator, then warm up to your liking before serving. You can also freeze the biscuit dough. Prepare the dough in steps 2 through 4. Wrap up tightly in plastic wrap (plastic wrap is best for freshness) and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then continue with step 5. Also, after step 4, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days before continuing with step 5.
Baking powder: In 2025, I updated this recipe to use both baking powder and baking soda. I’ve found that the texture, color, and flavor excels when using a combination of both. If you’ve always made this recipe using 2 TBS of baking powder, you can certainly continue to do so! However, by reducing the baking powder to 1 TBS and adding ½ tsp of baking soda, the biscuits brown more, have a flakier texture, crispier edges, and you don’t risk a bitter chemical aftertaste.
Butter: Cut into ½-inch cubes. Keep butter as cold as possible until you need it. I recommend placing the cubed butter in the freezer for about 15 minutes before you begin.
Buttermilk: You can substitute whole milk for buttermilk if desired. However if you’d like the tangy flavor, which I highly recommend, you can make your own DIY buttermilk substitute. Add 2 tsp of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 1 cup. (You need 1 cup in the recipe, plus 2 TBS for brushing—you can use regular milk to brush on top.) Whisk together, then let sit for 5 minutes before using in the recipe. Whole milk is best for the DIY sour milk substitute, though lower-fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. (In my testing, the biscuits don’t taste as rich or rise quite as tall using lower-fat or nondairy milks.)
Cast-iron skillet: If your cast-iron skillet isn’t well seasoned, I recommend greasing it with a little vegetable oil or melted butter. Brush a thin layer of either on the bottom and around the sides. No need to heat the cast-iron skillet before using, though you certainly can. Place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes before arranging the shaped biscuits in it.
