Buttermilk biscuits are one of the most popular comfort foods in our household. They are flaky, buttery, soft, and perfect for a snack or even dinner. The buttery smell filling up your entire kitchen when these are in the making is the warmest feeling ever.
Preparing buttermilk biscuits in cast iron is the easiest to whip up when unexpected guests arrive. They go exceptionally well with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, or even with molasses sparingly spread over it. Nothing beats the buttery, warm insides of the buttermilk biscuits when they are fresh out of the oven.
So, let us wait for nothing and dive into the cast-iron buttermilk biscuits’ recipe this very instant!
Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe
Things You Will Need:
- Chilled unsalted butter (8 ounces or 1 cup)
- Self-raising or all-purpose flour (4 cups)
- Baking soda (1/2 teaspoon)
- Baking powder (1 tablespoon)
- Buttermilk (one and a half cups)
Note: Do not fret if you don’t have buttermilk at home. You can easily make it by combining regular milk with two teaspoons of white vinegar.
Method
Now that you have everything ready and measured, you are all prepared to dive into preparing a delicious batch of buttermilk biscuits.
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Step 1
First off, preheat your oven up to 400°F. Next, take out butter from the refrigerator and grate it. Use a box grater so that all the mess is contained and easy to use.
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Step 2
After this, take all the dry ingredients (baking soda, baking powder, and flour and mix in a large bowl. Gradually add the grated butter to the dry ingredients and gently mix to cover all the grated butter with flour.
Now, add the prepared buttermilk to the butter and flour and fold it gently with a wooden spoon. Go easy on the mixing so that the mixture slowly transforms into a soft dough.
- Step 3
Next is what my daughter and I love to do together, that is, rolling out the dough. Spread the dough out on a clean countertop or table and roll out. The thicker the rolled-out sheet of dough, the better. It can be an exciting family activity with the kids.
Once the dough is rolled out (about half an inch in thickness), fold it in half two times and then roll out again. Do this process of rolling out the dough up to half an inch, and then fold it again. Roll out last time for the third time and leave the thickness to about an inch.
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Step 4
Cut the rolled-out dough in straight lines with the help of a cookie cutter. Line the cast iron pan with biscuits without a lot of space in between them. Toss the pan in the oven and leave it there for about 15 minutes or until they turn golden brown.
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Step 5
Coat them with melted butter while they are piping hot, and let your living room be filled with love and a buttery smell all over. Serve them with jelly, butter, or cheese.
Some Tips and Information
- Always use chilled butter. It helps make the biscuits turn out flaky and have small pockets of butter formed in them.
- Do not overwork the dough when mixing butter with the dry ingredients.
- The more you repeat the process of rolling out and folding the dough into halves, the puffier your buttermilk biscuits will be.
- You can easily store the baked buttermilk biscuits in the freezer. They last longer when frozen. You have to pop them in the oven after taking them out from the freezer. They reheat quickly in about 10 minutes.
- The acidity in buttermilk is the main component reacting with baking soda or powder. As a result, these biscuits are puffy and flaky.
- Self-rising flour is made with soft wheat, so it is better to use self-rising flour instead of all-purpose flour.
- The theory behind not over-mixing the dough is that the butter does not melt while in the dough. During baking, the butter is supposed to melt to raise the dough and make the biscuits fluffier and tall.
- Ensure that the sheet of dough you roll out is not thin. The thicker the sheets, the fluffier the buttermilk biscuits turn out.
Buttermilk Biscuits Can Make Anyone’s Day Better!
One of the fondest recollections from my childhood is the smell of plain buttermilk biscuits spreading throughout our kitchen and coffee table. We, as kids, could not wait for the biscuits to get done so that we could gobble them up while piping hot. My favorite thing was to spread jelly over these biscuits and enjoy the best days of my life. Now, I love to pair these buttermilk biscuits with a cup of hot coffee in the morning.