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You can enjoy fresh homemade biscuits that are flaky and tender in under 30 minutes. These really are the best biscuits!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe!
I love me a good biscuit and I have baked my way through quite a few homemade biscuit recipe in the attempt to create the best one. I think I have finally found a winner. It meats all my qualifications, it’s tender, soft, flaky, really tall and tastes good too! I think it really are the best biscuits!
Ingredients Needed
- Flour. I use unbleached all purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Sugar. Can also use honey.
- Baking Soda
- Butter. I use salted butter. You will also need some melted butter for brushing on the biscuits as they bake.
- Sour cream. You can substitute plain Greek yogurt
Tips for Making Flaky Biscuits
- Use cold butter, sour cream, egg and milk. Leave it in the refrigerator until you are ready to start.
- Don’t overwork the dough. Use a pastry blender or dough hook to combine the dough until it looks shaggy. There will still be small pieces of butter in the dough and that is what makes a flaky biscuit. As those pieces of butter melt, they give off steam which helps create those flaky layers.
- Baking powder is an important ingredient in this recipe so make sure you are using fresh baking powder, not the stuff that’s been sitting on your pantry shelf for years.
- Use your hands to bring the dough together. For the best biscuits, do not use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. Use your hands to pat the dough into a one inch tall circle.
- Do not twist the biscuit cutter when cutting the dough, this will seal the edges of the biscuit and prevent those flaky layers from forming.
- The trick to a nice tall biscuit is to roll your dough out to about 1 inch thick.
How to Make the Best Biscuits Recipe
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl or your food processor. If using food processor, pulse until butter is small (size of small peas) and well blended pieces or cut in butter by hand using a pastry cutter
- Add in the sour cream and water and mix well Pulse again until well mixed. Add more water if it is too dry (just a little at a time.)
- Knead biscuit dough a few times on the counter and roll out to 1 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. For the best biscuits, handle as little as possible.
- Cut out biscuits. I used my trusty old biscuit cutter that was my grandmothers but you could also use the rim of glass dipped into flour to cut out your biscuits. You can also form the dough into a thick rectangle and use a knife and cut them into squares like I did here.
- Place on a baking sheet. Placing biscuits close to each other will help them rise higher.
- Twice during the baking process baste the tops of the biscuits with melted butter
- Bake at 400 for 15-17 minutes or until top is golden. If frozen bake for 3-5 minutes longer.
Frequently Asked Questions
These best biscuits freeze beautifully.
Place the biscuits on a baking sheet and place in freezer until frozen solid.
Put them into a large ziploc freezer bag and remove as much air as you can. They will last in the freezer for 2-3 months.
The biscuits are ready when you are!
Bake while still frozen at 400 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through
Best biscuits are best eaten fresh the day you make them but if you have leftovers, they can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
There is nothing quite like a warm, buttery, flaky biscuit right out of the oven.
Best Biscuit Sandwich Ideas
One of our favorite Portland restaurants is Pine State Biscuits. They have some of the best biscuits and gravy in Portland but we also love their biscuit sandwiches.
Add one or all of the following:
- Egg. We use both a fried egg or scrambled egg. One egg per sandwich.
- Meat. You can use sausage patties or bacon. Cook the meat before adding it to the sandwich.
- Cheese. Use your favorite kind of cheese, we prefer cheddar or pepper jack.
Serve Biscuits with:
- Butter
- Strawberry Jam
- Honey
- Sausage Gravy
Try these other biscuit recipes:
Be sure and follow me over on You Tube for weekly cooking demos.
Best Biscuits
Ingredients
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cups butter
- 16 oz sour cream
- 3-5 tsp water
- Melted butter
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl or your food processor
- If using food processor, pulse until butter is small and well blended pieces or cut in butter by hand using a pastry cutter
- Add in the sour cream and water and mix well
- Pulse again until well mixed
- Add more water if it is too dry (just a little at a time.)
- Knead a few times on the counter and roll out to 1 inch thick
- Use a biscuit cutter to cut or dip a drinking glass into flour and cut
- Freeze individually on a cookie sheet
- After they are frozen, place in a freezer bag to store
- Bake frozen or thawed on an ungreased cookie sheet
- Bake at 400 for 15-17 minutes or until top is golden. If frozen bake for 3-5 minutes longer.
- Twice during the baking process baste the tops of the biscuits with melted butter
Tips & Notes:
- Use cold butter, sour cream, egg and milk. Leave it in the refrigerator until you are ready to start.
- Don’t overwork the dough. Use a pastry blender or dough hook to combine the dough until it looks shaggy. There will still be small pieces of butter in the dough and that is what makes a flaky biscuit. As those pieces of butter melt, they give off steam which helps create those flaky layers.
- Baking powder is an important ingredient in this recipe so make sure you are using fresh baking powder, not the stuff that’s been sitting on your pantry shelf for years.
- Use your hands to bring the dough together. Do not use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. Use your hands to pat the dough into a one inch tall circle.
- Do not twist the biscuit cutter when cutting the dough, this will seal the edges of the biscuit and prevent those flaky layers from forming.
- The trick to a nice tall biscuit is to roll your dough out to about 1 inch thick.
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Nutrition Facts:
Sharon Schroeter says
These are really yummy! Do you think I could put some more sugar in them to use for strawberry shortcake?
Thanks for your great recipes–keep up the good work!
Sharon
Leigh Anne Wilkes says
I have made them before with some brown sugar and they were yummy!
Sharon Schroeter says
Thanks Leigh Anne, I will try that!
Andrea says
Holey Schmoley! These are the BEST gawsh darn biscuits ever. I found them after making the cinnamon roll biscuits. I even successfully halved the recipe. Which is good and bad. Good because if I did make the whole recipe- just my hub and I would eat them ALL The Bad being- we don’t have as many leftovers and um- they store really well and don’t get as tough as regular biscuits do. Either way- it’s nice having the option. lOL Definitely going to make some breakfast biscuits if we ever have leftovers again. lol Excellent recipe and from now on- my go to recipe for biscuits. I love that I can just put it in the food processor. Absolute magic! lol Thank you!!!
brad tittle says
These are awesome so far….
Carol says
My husband just made a batch of these and we both really liked them on this icy, sleeting morning in Texas! Mine with rhubarb jam and his was with blackberry. I wasn’t in the kitchen when he was making them but he said he had to add much more water than the 5 tsp called for–tho he was making by hand rather than food processor. (He prides himself on homemade biscuits.) Wonder if the method made the difference? They were delicious and glad we have extras in the freezer now. Hope to make it to Pine Street Biscuits one day.
Elicia P says
Thank you.
I was looking for a recipe that did not call for milk and this was it. So simple to make, my 4 year old helped me and I can not believe how easy. Pulled them out of the oven and added honey butter my son added jam.
Why have I not made biscuits before!
Leigh Anne says
So glad you and your son had fun making these. Nothing beats a good biscuit!!