Tall & Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Makes: 8–10 biscuits
Bake: 425°F / 220°C

Ingredients

• 2½ cups (315 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• ½ cup (113 g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 cup (240 ml) cold buttermilk, plus 1–2 tbsp if needed
• 2 tbsp melted butter, for brushing

Method

1. Heat oven to 425°F / 220°C. Place a baking sheet in the oven while it preheats if you want especially crisp bottoms.
2. Mix dry ingredients: Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar together.
3. Cut in the butter: Add the cold butter and work it into the flour with your fingertips or a pastry cutter until you have a mixture with pea-sized pieces of butter. A few larger flat pieces are good—they create the flaky layers.
4. Add buttermilk: Pour in the cold buttermilk and gently stir just until a shaggy dough forms. Don’t overmix.
5. Create the layers: Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it into a rectangle about ¾-inch (2 cm) thick. Fold it in half, rotate 90°, and gently pat it out again. Repeat 3–4 times.
6. Cut: Pat the dough to about 1½ inches (4 cm) thick. Cut straight down with a floured 2½–3-inch cutter—don’t twist the cutter, or the edges can seal and prevent rising.
7. Bake: Place biscuits close together on the hot baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter. Bake 15–18 minutes, until deeply golden on top.
8. Brush with a little more butter immediately after baking.

 For biscuits

• Keep everything cold. Warm butter won’t create those distinct layers.
• Don’t knead like bread. Gentle folds are what you want.
• Make them thick. The 1½-inch dough height is important for that dramatic rise.
• Put the biscuits touching each other—this encourages upward rather than sideways rising.
• For extra-flaky layers, refrigerate the cut biscuits for 10–15 minutes before baking.