Peppered Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What's the difference between a Southern style biscuit and a buttermilk biscuit? ›

There are many theories about why Southern biscuits are different (ahem, better) than other biscuits—richer buttermilk, more butter, better grandmothers—but the real difference is more fundamental. Southern biscuits are different because of the flour most Southerners use. My grandmother swore by White Lily flour.

Crisco may be beneficial for other baking applications, but for biscuit making, butter is the ultimate champion!

Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe Tips

Use a heavy hand when working in the butter, but a light hand when working in the buttermilk. Too much stirring makes tough biscuits. Try to add the least amount of buttermilk as possible; too much moisture in a biscuits makes them not rise as high.

Or if your favorite recipe involves rolling out and folding or layering the dough (like this one), try adding a thin layer of softened cream cheese between the layers of dough. It will keep every bite light and moist.

SouthernKitchen.com says, "Ask any Southern chef or sagacious biscuit grandma and you'll hear a pattern emerge: they all swear by White Lily flour."

Heavy cream provides rich butterfat that gives the biscuits tenderness and flavor, as well as moisture from its water content. The formula requires minimal mixing, reducing the risk of too much gluten development.

The secret to the best biscuits is using very cold butter and baking powder. We've made a lot of biscuits, but this easy biscuits recipe is the one we turn to the most (they are so fluffy!). See our easy drop biscuits and cheese drop biscuits for even easier biscuits.

“Buttermilk is acidic and reacts with the alkaline baking soda to add more loft when the oven's heat hits the dough,” says Prep Kitchen Manager Catherine Ward. That means your scratch-made biscuits and cakes will rise higher and have a lighter texture. And let's not forget that buttermilk adds flavor.

By baking at a high temperature it helps your homemade biscuits to rise up quickly in the oven. You want a hot oven that will ensure your homemade biscuits bake up tall and don't fall flat.

With biscuits, however, the goal is to avoid this chewiness. So, by adding hard-boiled egg yolk to a biscuit recipe, you'll thwart the formation of gluten, thereby resulting in a buttery, flakey crumb that'll dissolve in your mouth.

Should butter be cold for biscuits? ›

Use Cold Butter for Biscuits

This makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside. We default to our Land O Lakes® Salted Butter when baking biscuits.

The Perfect Finishing Touch

Egg washes are used to brush on pastries, breads, pie crusts, biscuits, scones and more before baking them so they bake up with a beautiful, bright, golden brown finish.

Southern biscuits are made with a soft, fluffy dough that is rolled out and cut into rounds. They are then baked until golden brown and served warm. Biscuits are typically larger and thicker than scones, making them a more substantial food.

Bon Appétit explains how it boils down to a difference in protein levels between hard and soft flour: Hard flour, which is more common in the North, contains more protein than soft flour, which is more difficult to find outside of the South.

Any unsweetened plant milk or dairy milk and apple cider vinegar-1 cup of milk to 1 tablespoon of vinegar, left sitting at room temperature for at least 5 minutes, makes a great substitute for buttermilk.