How to Make Homemade Biscuits

If you want to make light flaky homemade biscuits that any grandma would be proud of keep reading! 

I learned this technique working at the Firefly Grill.  If you’re using self-rising flour don’t use the leavening agent baking powder called for in the ingredient list or else your biscuits will get overzealous with the rising.  You can see what that looks like in my video below. Lol

3 Tips for Amazing Homemade Biscuits

To get you started here are a few tricks to keep in mind when making biscuits:

TIP #1: Use buttermilk or regular milk with 1 teaspoon vinegar. The acid in the buttermilk and vinegar reacts with the baking powder, creating lift, lightness, and rise in the biscuits.

TIP #2: Don’t overwork the dough. The less you can touch the dough the better. Pat the dough into shape; don’t roll it. A light touch will give you light, airy biscuits.

TIP #3: After cutting the dough, discard the scraps. If you shape the scraps into biscuits, the tops will split and rise unevenly. See below 👇🏼 biscuit to the far right is cracked from being made from scraps.

They’ll still taste amazing though. Or cut them into squares with a knife to get perfect biscuits without wasting any dough

How to make homemade biscuits

This recipe makes 8 biscuits in just over 30 minutes, but you can easily double the recipe.

Biscuit Ingredients

• 2 ¾ cup / 370 g flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1½ tablespoon baking
• powder
• 12 tablespoons butter, cold
• 1 egg
• 1 ¼ cup / 290 ml milk
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Equipment

• Sifter
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• food processor or pastry cutter
• baking sheet
• basting brush

Homemade Biscuits Instructions:

1. PREHEAT oven to 450°F / 230°C
2. MAKE BISCUITS. Sift dry ingredients together: all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together into a large mixing bowl. Stir vinegar into milk and let stand 5 minutes.*
3. Cut the cold butter into pea-size pieces and place in the freezer if not used straight away. With a food processor or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse gravel.
4. Whisk milk and egg together in a small bowl. Add egg mixture to the flour and stir until just combined. The mixture should be very sticky.
5. Turn dough onto a heavily floured surface and fold the biscuit dough 10 – 15 times. Folding the dough on the floured surface will slowly incorporate the flour into the dough. It should end dry and very soft. Use a bench scraper to scrape and incorporate the sticky bits back into the dough.
6. Pat (don’t roll) dough into a rectangle 1-inch thick. Cut into 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter or glass for round biscuits. Work leftover pieces into similar rounds. An alternative method is to cut dough into 9 squares with a knife.
7. BAKE. Place biscuits on a baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper. Put them into the oven and bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until their tops are golden brown. Brush the tops with melted butter while they’re still hot.
8. PLATE. Cut biscuits open and drench with sausage gravy. Serve with a side of eggs, bacon, and fresh orange juice.

Why add vinegar to milk and wait 5 minutes?

This is an easy way to make your own homemade buttermilk substitute. Not only does this give your biscuits great taste, but it also reacts with the baking powder to help give your biscuits a bit more lift.

What happens to biscuits made with leftover dough?

The biscuits you first cut will have perfectly smooth tops. Remnant dough pieced together will crack and tear apart. They’re as light and flaky as the others, and what I like to call “imperfectly perfect.”

These have always been a huge hit on the Firefly Grill’s brunch menu. I always enjoyed making them while working there. My favorite part was basting them with vats of melted butter right as they came out, piping hot of the enormous French-door oven. Watching the butter soak into their tops, creating golden simmering shields, always gave me shivers of glee.

How do you like to eat your biscuits?

My personal favorite way to eat homemade biscuits, actually just about any biscuit (Pilsbury, KFC, or Cracker Barrel) is when they are fresh out of the oven. Then I smother them with soft butter and give them each a generous drizzle of pure golden honey. I mean, what’s not to love about that, right?

But how do you like to eat your biscuits? You can’t go wrong with the classic butter and jelly or jam. But what about using these biscuits as the foundation for your favorite eggs Benedict? Or strawberry shortcake?

When I was a kid my mom made the best strawberry shortcakes with Bisquick biscuits, fresh strawberries, and homemade whipped cream with powdered sugar and just a touch of vanilla. Using biscuits instead of angel food cake or pound cake keeps it from being overly sweet. If you haven’t tried it, definitely give it a shot!