Buttery & Flaky Sourdough Biscuits
These Sourdough Biscuits are both fluffy and flaky. Sourdough discard creates biscuits with a light crumb and wonderful flavor. I’ll show you a simple technique which creates a super-flaky texture.
Table of contents
Why these are the best Sourdough Biscuits
- This recipe uses a whole cup of sourdough discard.
- Gentle folding develops layers of dough that bake into lovely, buttery layers in the final biscuit.
- This dough is so tender you don’t need a rolling pin. You can easily pat it into shape using your hands.
Ingredients
Ingredient Notes
- Flour – This recipe uses a mixture of 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 cake flour. All purpose flour gives the biscuit dough enough body to create layers, and cake flour has a lower protein content to keep toughening gluten at bay. Pastry flour can be used instead of the flour mixture.
- Sourdough Discard – This recipe was developed using a 100% hydration starter. That means the starter is fed with equal weights of starter, flour and water. You may need to adjust the amount of starter in the recipe based on the moisture level of your starter.
- Buttermilk – Acidic Buttermilk tenderizes the dough and has lightly tangy flavor that is perfect in this recipe.
How to make Sourdough Biscuits:
- Combine the dry ingredients.
- Work the butter until it’s slightly larger than pea-size.
- Combine the buttermilk and the sourdough discard.
- Add the wet ingredients all at once and mix until almost combined.
- Briefly knead the dough to bring it together.
- Pat the dough to 1/2″ thick and fold in half. Pat the dough again to 1/2″ thick and fold in half.
- Pat to 3/4″ thick and cut the biscuits.
- Brush the biscuits with buttermilk.
- Bake in a hot oven until the biscuits are well-risen and golden brown.
- Sourdough Biscuits have a flaky texture a nice open crumb.
Storage
Sourdough Biscuits are best enjoyed warm from the oven or within a few hours of baking. Leftover biscuits can be frozen for up to a month. Defrost and warm in a 200F oven before serving.
Looking for something else to make with your sourdough discard? Here’s a list of my Best Sourdough Discard Recipes.
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Sourdough Biscuit Recipe
Sourdough biscuits that are both fluffy and flaky. A little discard sourdough starter gives these biscuits a wonderful flavor.
biscuits
Ingredients
- 10 oz all purpose flour (2 cups, see note)
- 8 oz cake flour (2 cups)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 8 oz unsalted butter (cold and cut into 16 pieces)
- 8 oz sourdough discard (1 cup, room temperature)
- 8 oz buttermilk (1 cup, room temperature)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Combine 10 oz all purpose flour, 8 oz cake flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon table salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk the dry ingredients to combine.
- Mix 8 oz unsalted butter into the flour with your fingers until it's broken down into bits slightly larger than a pea.
- Combine 8 oz sourdough discard and 8 oz buttermilk in a small bowl. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour all at once. Mix until about 2/3 of the dry ingredients are absorbed.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead together just to incorporate the remaining dry flour (this should only take about 6-8 kneads).
- Gently pat dough to a 1/2" thick rectangle, brush off excess flour and fold the dough in 1/2. Pat gently to stick the dough together and and fold again. Pat to 3/4 " thick disc and cut with a 2.5"-3" biscuit cutter. Gather the scraps together, pat to 3/4" thick and continue cutting until all the dough is used up.
- Set the biscuits onto the prepared baking sheet and brush the tops with buttermilk. Bake the biscuits until well rise and golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.
- If the bottoms of the biscuits are browning too fast set another sheet pan under the biscuits after 5 minutes of baking.
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Notes
If measuring the flour by volume use the “dip & sweep” method. That is, dip the measuring cup into the flour bin, overfill it, then sweep away the excess.
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @eileen.bakingsense or tag #bakingsense!
This site is an absolute god-send. I have my first sourdough started that I’ve been keeping for about a month. Your recipes, tips, and advice have been the only things that have consistently worked for me… THANK YOU THANK YOU.
I made these biscuits this morning with a starter that I was worried I had killed but, following the advice on another page on this site, I just kept going, following the advice and directions on this page. These biscuits were the perfect Sunday snowy morning breakfast food. Such a hit and a great way to use up the discard. I just can’t bear to throw it away! All that work (and flour!), it just seems such a waste.
Anyway, I wanted to say thank you!!! I’ve read other books and made a few different recipes since starting this sourdough journey but nothing has been as helpful or consistent as this site. 🙂
Awww, thanks!
These are fantastic! So buttery, tender and flaky – the perfect biscuit and a great thing to do with all my leftover starter. Thanks for a great recipe!
These biscuits turned out wonderful!
Quick question: Have you tried freezing the precut dough and baking later? I’m trying to freeze a bunch of food before I give birth and would love to add these to my stash!
It would be possible, but I think you would lose some of the oomph from the baking powder. I have frozen the baked biscuits and reheated them in the oven with really good results.
Thank you for this recipe! I made these and they can out better than any biscuits I’ve ever made.
The biscuits turned out great. Thank you