Run out of biscuit dough or just short on time? Check out this Buttermilk biscuit recipe that gives new meaning to life!
A biscuit is a type of bread, more precisely quick bread with a dry exterior and a soft crumbly interior or at least it is in the States. Other parts of the English-speaking world, biscuits are a collective word for any small baked product from cookies through crackers to shortbread, no matter if they are sweet or sour. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have biscuits, but more likely, they call them scones.
The words itself comes through French from Latin, meaning twice cooked. It refers to the fact that early biscuits, that again were actually cookies, were first baked then dried out in the hot oven.
So, the things, we call biscuits today, were actually scones before arrived the shores of the US and someone has seen fit to rename them to biscuits.
Being a quick bread, biscuits are made with baking powder rather than yeast and sometimes differentiated as baking powder biscuit. Originally biscuits were prepared with yeast but in the early 19th century the prohibitive price of storing yeast lead to alternative solutions.
Beaten biscuits simply use the incorporated air during processing to expand and raise the dough while buttermilk biscuits employ the power of chemical reactions between the acid of buttermilk and baking soda to create air within the dough.
Of course, with the immediate chemical reaction of buttermilk and baking soda the dough needed a bit of expertise to knead to trap the air withing the dough, but it was much easier process than simply beating air into the dough.
Baking powder meant to use the same chemical reaction as buttermilk and baking soda employs, so adding them became redundant to biscuits save for flavor. It’s worth to note though that if we add buttermilk (acid) to our dough then to compensate for the acidity also recommended to add baking soda (base) too.
Keep in mind that upon adding any acid to baking powder will immediately starts off the chemical reaction that produces the much-needed co2 for our biscuits. So, either make a nice gluten structure to trap the air before adding baking powder or be quick about kneading, cutting and baking given that we don’t want to end up with hardtack
Although, buttermilk biscuits are a step below of the true yeast leavened and butter sheet layered fluffy cheese biscuits, but if we allow ourselves to be constrained by the imaginative concept of time, we still have a chance by these little cuties to get us mesmerized.
Ingredients
- 4 cups / 500g Flour
- 1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
- 1½ cups / 350g Buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons / 50g Butter (cold, sliced)
- 4 teaspoons / 15g Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon / 3g Baking soda
How to make Buttermilk biscuits
- Knead flour, salt and buttermilk together until a uniform texture forms, about 5 minutes.
- Stretch the dough open then sprinkle in the baking powder and baking soda.
- Knead until the powders are distributed evenly, about 1 minute.
- Knead in the sliced cold butter, just long enough to distribute the butter but not long enough to raise the temperature of the dough and melt the butter, about 1 minute.
- Roll the dough out on a well floured surface.
- Fold the dough into thirds from the sides.
- Fold the dough into thirds from top and bottom too.
- Roll the dough out again. Repeat the folding from the sides and top, bottom.
- Roll the dough out into ½” / 1.25cm thick. Don’t forget to flour the working surface before each rolling out otherwise the dough will most likely stick down.
- Cut the biscuits out with a cookie cutter or simply make rectangles with a knife. Flour the cookie cutter before each cut so it will be easier to remove the dough.
- Rework the dough cuttings into a new sheet and cut them out too.
- Place the cut out dough onto a parchment paper laid baking sheet. Packing them tight will support their side while raising upwards. If we’ve done things right, we may already see some air bubble forming under the surface of the dough from the chemical reaction of the baking soda and buttermilk.
- Brush the top with buttermilk. It gives gloss and brownness.
- Add cheese on top if desired.
- Place the buttermilk biscuits into the middle rack of a 425°F/220°C oven until the inner temperature reaches 190°F / 88°C and the top gets a golden brown color, which should happen in 10 -15 minutes.
Enjoy!
F.A.Q.
What does buttermilk do in biscuits?
Buttermilk gives flavor and provides acid for the biscuits to rise when baking soda is added.
What is the difference between a scone and a buttermilk biscuit?
Depends on the ingredients used but it could be no difference at all. Scones and biscuits can be essentially the same things called differently on the two sides of the Atlantic.
Is a buttermilk biscuit a scone?
However ingredients can vary widely, essentially biscuits in the US is the same as the Scone in Great Britain. Of course, regional differences do exist.
Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1½ cups Buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons Butter cold, sliced
- 4 teaspoons Baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
Instructions
- Knead flour, salt and buttermilk together until a uniform texture forms, about 5 minutes.
- Stretch the dough open then sprinkle in the baking powder and baking soda.
- Knead until the powders are distributed evenly, about 1 minute.
- Knead in the sliced cold butter, just long enough to distribute the butter but not long enough to raise the temperature of the dough and melt the butter, about 1 minute.
- Roll the dough out on a well floured surface.
- Fold the dough into thirds from the sides.
- Fold the dough into thirds from top and bottom too.
- Roll the dough out again. Repeat the folding from the sides and top, bottom.
- Roll the dough out into ½” / 1.25cm thick. Don’t forget to flour the working surface before each rolling out otherwise the dough will most likely stick down.
- Cut the biscuits out with a cookie cutter or simply make rectangles with a knife. Flour the cookie cutter before each cut so it will be easier to remove the dough.
- Rework the dough cuttings into a new sheet and cut them out too.
- Place the cut out dough onto a parchment paper laid baking sheet. Packing them tight will support their side while raising upwards. If we’ve done things right, we may already see some air bubble forming under the surface of the dough from the chemical reaction of the baking soda and buttermilk.
- Brush the top with buttermilk. It gives gloss and brownness.
- Add cheese on top if desired.
- Place the buttermilk biscuits into the middle rack of a 425°F/220°C oven until the inner temperature reaches 190°F / 88°C and the top gets a golden brown color, which should happen in 10 -15 minutes.
Notes
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