Homemade biscuits are buttery, light, and flaky. This homemade biscuits recipe is made entirely from scratch and only takes about 30 minutes to make. Plus with simple ingredients that are likely already in your kitchen, there's no reason for you not to make these today!
Homemade biscuits taste amazing warm, fresh out of the oven, and topped with butter. The biscuits are light and flaky, and laminating the dough creates lots of layers that rise up during baking. You will love how easy these are to make. The biscuits also freeze really well, so you can make a big batch and easily reheat them whenever you want.
Ingredients for Homemade Biscuits:
- COLD butter: Cold is key for biscuits! Just like with a pie crust or homemade croissants, you need the butter to stay solid in the dough until it is baked. The butter melts during baking, which creates steam pockets and makes the dough turn out light and flaky.
- Flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder: Baking powder causes the biscuits to rise up super light and fluffy when baked.
- Salt
- Milk: Cold whole milk. Buttermilk will also work, but the amount will vary slightly. Start with 1 cup and add more as needed.
How to Make Biscuits:
When making biscuit dough you need to make sure you are working in a cool environment. So blast the AC if you have to! You need your house and space you're working on to be nice and cold.
Make the Biscuit Dough:
- Cut the butter into even-sized pieces and keep in the refrigerator while you get the rest of the dough ingredients ready. Alternatively, you can freeze the butter for 15 minutes and then use the large holes on a box grater to grate the butter into the dough.
- Biscuit dough should be made by hand. You don't want to over-work the dough, so a food processor or stand mixer is not recommended. Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar and mix together in a large bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut the cold butter in, or grate it in using the large holes on a box grater.
- Add in 1 cup of milk and begin forming into a dough using your hands. If the dough is too dry you can add 1 additional tablespoon at a time.
Roll and Laminate the Dough:
Biscuits are made with an easy lamination process. Laminating is a baking technique that folds dough over on itself several times and creates layers. You need to be gentle with the dough so that the layers don't get squished, so use your hands to laminate it, not a roller.
Shape the dough into a rectangle, about 10" x 6", but don't worry about getting precise measurements yet. Fold the dough in half and flatten and shape it again into a rectangle. Repeat this process 4-5 times.
After the final lamination, roll the dough into an 11 x 8" rectangle. This time the measurement does need to be precise.
Form the Biscuits:
Use a biscuit cutter to cut 12 round circles in the dough. Try to be gentle and not flatten the layers. If you don't have a biscuit cutter you can use a round cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to gently cut out the circles. Or if you don't mind them not being round, you can use a knife to cut the dough into squares, which is great because you don't have any leftover dough scraps.
Arrange the biscuits on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Set the pan in the fridge and preheat your oven to 425°F.
Bake the biscuits for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown.
Top with butter and serve warm.
What to do with the leftover scraps of dough?
The dough doesn't reroll well because of the lamination, but that doesn't mean you should throw out the scraps. You can bake them along with the rest of the biscuits, or keep them in a bag for a later use. I like to roll the scraps into little balls and use them to make dumpling soup.
How to Store Biscuits:
Biscuits are best the same day they're made. Store leftovers in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature for up to 2 days. Biscuits are also great for freezing. Store any leftovers in a plastic bag and keep frozen for up to 6 months.
How to Reheat Biscuits:
To reheat in the microwave: Wrap individual biscuits in a damp kitchen or paper towel and microwave for 30-45 seconds or until warm.
To reheat in the oven: Bake in a 350°F oven for 5-10 minutes or until warm.
Recipe
Homemade Biscuits
Equipment
- box grater
- 2 ½" round biscuit cutter
Ingredients
- 4 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp. baking powder
- 1 and ½ tsp. salt
- 1 and ½ tbsp. sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup cold whole milk
Instructions
- Freeze the butter for at least 15 minutes before starting.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
- Remove the butter from the freezer and grate it in using the large holes on a box grater.
- Add the milk and use your hands to form into a dough. Add an additional tablespoon if needed.
- On a cool, clean, and lightly floured surface, use your hands to roll the dough into a rectangle, about 10 x 6". Don't worry about getting the measurement exact.
- Laminate the dough: Fold the dough in half and flatten it out again into a 10 x 6" rectangle. Repeat this process 4-5 times. Use your hands to work the dough, not a rolling pin.
- Use your hands to flatten the dough into an 11 x 8" rectangle. The measurement needs to be accurate now.
- Use a 2 ½" round biscuit cutter to cut out 12 biscuits.
- Arrange the biscuits on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Place the baking pan in the fridge while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Bake the biscuits for 15-17 minutes until golden brown. Top with butter and serve warm.
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