How to Make Southern Buttermilk Biscuits From Scratch

Buttermilk biscuits are great with Sunday brunch.

Southern buttermilk biscuits should be flaky without falling apart when you cut into them, the kind of biscuit that your family can't get enough of. They are served with butter or white country gravy.

Things You'll Need

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• Large mixing bowl
• Sifter (dry sieve will work)
• Potato masher
• Rolling pin
• Cookie sheet
• Biscuit cutter (can use jar lid)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. Assemble ingredients and utensils.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into mixing bowl. Sifting is a very important step; don't skip it. This will help make your biscuits lighter and flakier.

3. Add shortening and mix into flour mixture until finely blended. The potato masher works good for this. Take the time to blend the shortening well at this point. The less you handle the dough after the buttermilk is added the better.

4. Stir in the buttermilk. Use enough to make a soft dough that is easy to roll out.

5. Place dough on lightly floured board. Knead dough over and press lightly with heel of hand about a half dozen times. Handle lightly. Too much handling makes biscuits tough.

6. Roll dough or pat out with hand. For good southern biscuits, the dough should be rolled out to about 3/4 inch thick.

7. Cut biscuits out with the floured biscuit cutter. Avoid flattening the biscuits when cutting. Fit leftover bits together to use all the dough, but don't re-knead dough.

8. When placing biscuits on the ungreased cookie sheet, place them close together for soft sides. For crusty sides, place biscuits 1 inch apart.

9. Bake in the middle of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.

Tips & Warnings

• To substitute for buttermilk, put 1 tsp. vinegar into reconstituted dry milk or fresh milk to sour it, or use milk that has soured. There is also a powdered buttermilk product on the market.

• If using self-rising flour, omit the baking powder but don't forget the baking soda.

• To freeze, make several batches at a time and place the unbaked biscuits on cookie sheets in the freezer. After freezing, put them into plastic bags and back in the freezer; take out as many as you want for a given meal. Increase baking time to 15 minutes and decrease temperature to 375 F to bake frozen biscuits. Saves time and money!