Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits
Biscuits are the perfect side for cozy soups, stews and pot roast, or served alongside a delicious sausage gravy. While you certainly can buy store-bought biscuits, there is something about fresh homemade biscuits that can’t be beat. My sourdough buttermilk biscuits are soft, flaky and easy to make and are one of my family’s favorite ways to use our extra starter. Trust us, you will never want to make regular biscuits again.
Why You Will Love this Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe
My homemade sourdough biscuits are a great way to use extra sourdough starter. This recipe uses a generous amount of sourdough starter discard and are ready, start to finish, in under one hour. These flaky sourdough biscuits also only require a few simple ingredients you probably already have. If you don’t have buttermilk, don’t worry. I have an easy trick to make your own homemade buttermilk substitute that works just as well as regular buttermilk.
How to Use Sourdough Starter in Sourdough Discard Biscuits
Sourdough starter adds moisture to recipes so it is important to account for the extra moisture. You can use active sourdough starter or sourdough discard straight from the fridge.
If you do use active starter, I recommend weighing it as the air bubbles can decrease the density of the starter.
You also want to use 100% hydration starter. This means you use equal parts flour and water by weight to feed your starter. If you use a higher hydration starter, add more flour, or if you use a lower hydration AKA a stiff starter, you may need a bit of extra liquid. This shouldn’t be an issue though, unless you have an extreme of high hydration or low hydration starter.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour: Use all purpose flour or bread flour. I do not recommend whole wheat flour for the entire recipe as it can make the texture of the biscuits too dry. If you do want to substitute some whole wheat flour, only use 1/2 cup.
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Butter: Make sure you use cold butter. This is critical to create flaky biscuits. I also recommend unsalted butter, but you can also use salted. If you do use salted butter, reduce the salt in the recipe by 1/4 teaspoon.
- Sourdough Starter: See notes above.
- Buttermilk: Most people do not keep buttermilk on hand. That is totally okay. If you do not have buttermilk, simply add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup of milk and allow it to sit for 5 minutes before adding it to your recipe. I do not recommend a flavored vinegar such as apple cider vinegar as this can impart its flavor into your biscuits.
How to Make
Preheat the oven to 450F.
Step 1: Use a food processor to pulse the dry ingredients.
Step 2: Add the butter to the flour mixture and pulse a few more times until the mixture has a coarse texture. Note: If you do not have a food processor, you can also use a pastry blender (aka a pastry cutter) to cut the butter into the flour mixture. You still want to create a coarse sand-like texture to get those perfect flaky layers.
Step 3: Add the starter and buttermilk and pulse until just fully combined.
Step 4: Transfer the dough to a liberally floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a square with the dough about 1-1/2 inches thick.
Step 5: Fold the dough into thirds like folding a paper to place in an envelope. If the dough is sticking, use a bench scraper to gently lift the dough. Add more flour to your work surface as needed to prevent sticking.
Step 6: Fold the long edge of the dough into thirds again.
Step 7: Gently shape the biscuit dough into an approximate 8×4 inch rectangle. Then, use a 2” round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut out 8 biscuits. Reshape the scraps of dough to make an additional 1-2 biscuits. If you do not have a cookie cutter, you can also just cut the biscuits into 8 equal squares.
Step 8: Transfer the biscuits to a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can also bake these in closer proximity in a cast iron skillet however I do still recommend lining the bottom with parchment paper so they do not stick. You can also brush the tops of the biscuits with a little bit of melted butter if desired. This will deepen the golden brown appearance and make your biscuits look even more delicious.
Step 9: Bake in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes. The biscuits should appear golden brown on the tops when done.
How to Make Ahead
You can make the dough, cut the biscuits, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate them for up to 48 hours ahead of time. Bake as directed when ready to use.
How to Store
Place the biscuits in an airtight container. You can store these biscuits at room temperature for 1-2 days. Otherwise, they will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week.
I hope you enjoyed these buttery sourdough biscuits. If you love making sourdough discard recipes, check out some of our other sourdough recipes:
- Sourdough Pretzel Rolls
- Soft Crust Sourdough Sandwich Bread
- Easy Sourdough Tortilla Recipe
- Sourdough Discard Fire Crackers
Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter cold and cut into large cubes.
- ½ cup sourdough starter active starter or unfed discard
- 1 cup buttermilk or substitute 1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450℉.
- In a food processor, pulse together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the butter to the food processor and pulse together with the dry ingredients until a coarse sand-like texture forms.
- Add the sourdough starter and the buttermilk to the food processor. Continue to pulse until the dough just comes together and no dry clumps of flour remains.
- Transfer the dough to a liberally floured work surface. Gently shape the dough into a square with the dough about 1-1/2 inches thick.
- Fold the dough into thirds like folding a paper to place in an envelope. If the dough is sticking, use a bench scraper to gently lift the dough. Add more flour to your work surface as needed to prevent sticking.
- Fold the long edge of the dough into thirds again.
- Gently shape the biscuit dough into an approximate 8×4 inch rectangle. Then, use a 2” round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut out 8 biscuits. Reshape the scraps of dough to make an additional 1-2 biscuits. If you do not have a cookie cutter, you can also just cut the biscuits into 8 equal squares.
- Transfer the biscuits to a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If desired, brush the tops of the biscuits with an extra 2 tablespoons of melted butter.
- Bake in preheated oven for 13-15 minutes. The biscuits should appear golden brown on the tops when done.
