Buttermilk Biscuit Recipes + Tips

Chef Mei Lin’s Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients:
300g all purpose flour
15g baking powder
15g baking soda
10g granulated sugar
5g kosher salt
50g chives or scallions
170g grated butter
100g grated cheddar
60g bacon bits (optional)
170g cold buttermilk

Directions:
400F convection 12-15 min, 425F standard oven 15-20 min.
5x for lamination, no need to rest in between folds.

Watch Mei Lin’s step-by-step how-to in her Instagram highlight.

Below are some of my tips for making these biscuits!

Feel free to change up the flavorings.
Mei Lin added 60g bacon bits or Chinese sausage to the biscuits. For mine, I used 70% sharp cheddar and 30% provolone, as well as 50% scallions and 50% chives.

While it’s okay to sub the flavorings, it’s important to use all purpose flour for this recipe, rather than subbing for a softer flour like White Lily, which won’t give the biscuits enough structure. (I asked Mei about this before I started testing).

Grating the butter and cheese.
Grating the frozen butter and cheese by hand was a work out and got pretty messy so I found, it was much easier to weigh the butter and cheddar blocks, freeze them till firm, then put them through the shredding disc of my food processor. It was so fast and the ingredients stayed cold.

To ensure the layers stay in tact, makes sure all the ingredients are VERY cold.
I tossed my grated butter and cheese with the dry ingredients, coating the grated pieces so they wouldn’t stick together, then froze the entire bowl for about an hour before finishing the dough.

Once I completed the lamination and had my dough block, I froze it for 1 hour before using a sharp chef’s knife to cut into pieces. Don’t forget to trim all around the edges so the layers can rise properly, otherwise they will stay sealed and the biscuits will be a bit lopsided.

Baking from frozen.
When ready to bake, brush with melted butter (or other fat) and sprinkle with sea salt. I set the oven to 400 F standard for 18 minutes, then turned it down 375 when the tops were getting a bit too golden and baked for an additional 8-10 min.

More on freezing/storing biscuits at the bottom of the page.

Fox in the Snow Cafe’s Biscuits

If you don’t have buttermilk…
You can make your own. The substitution is 1 cup whole milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice. Combine the two and let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.

Keep the butter pieces in large chunks.
A lot of dough recipes say to incorporate butter until they’re the size of peas. Here, the recommended sized is a nickel, so the biscuits become SUPER flaky.

Don’t be afraid to work the dough.
There is a lot of butter (3 sticks!) in this recipe. After adding the buttermilk, combine in a bowl until there are very minimal dry flour bits. You can work those in when turned out on the counter.

Avoid twisting the biscuit cutter.
Push straight down and lift up. If you twist the cutter, you’re sealing off the layers and they won’t rise when in the oven.

You can freeze the biscuits.
Once you’ve cut out your biscuits cut, freeze on a tray until firm. Then transfer to an airtight bag for more compact storage. When you’re ready to bake, brush with egg wash.

Because of the leavening agents in the dough, it’s best to bake within 30 days. Add 3-5 minutes of baking time when baking from frozen. You can also freeze the biscuits after they’ve been baked! They reheat well.

I’d love to see how your biscuits turn out! Tag me @pastrywithjenn.