The hot pan of buttermilk biscuits is pulled from the oven, the biscuits steaming and perfect: slightly hard and crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy and wonderful on the inside– no, it’s not a dream! This is your kitchen! And these are biscuits even the most inexperienced and novice chef can make with success.

Wanna Know How?

5 Easy Steps to Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits

1. Set your oven at 400 degrees to pre-heat.

Does this really count as a step? I mean, really. All you have to do is turn the knob. Yet, it’s important to do this first so your oven is ready later. So yes, it’s a “real” step. Is this any indication of how easy this is going to be?? After that, gather your supplies:

2. Mix your ingredients.

With a butter knife – yes it matters – mix your dry ingredients (see down below) and buttermilk in a large bowl, cutting the buttermilk into the dough as you mix. The butter knife prevents the dough from getting mashed up and mixed too well and helps it form little “lumps.” The lumps are good, they’ll keep the biscuits nice and fluffy. If you mix it too well, the dough and the biscuits will be more dense later.

3. Knead your dough until it just comes together.

Keeping in mind that you still don’t want to overmix, turn your “dough” (though at this point it will resemble a bowl of gravel sized  lumps) onto a.) a floured surface or b.) a floured baking sheet or pizza pan. I just dump it straight onto my pizza pan that I’m going to be baking on because it’s less clean up. Gently knead it and press it together until it just comes together. The dough should not be overly sticky or wet. You may need to add small amounts of flour as you knead to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or the baking sheet. As soon as it stops falling apart into little lumps and stays together in in one big main lump, stop kneading.

4. Roll out the dough and slice it.

Now you need to prep your dough for baking. You may need to pick up your dough and shake some of the excess flour off of your baking sheet. Center your ball of dough and slightly flatten it with your hand. Add a sprinkle of flour and roll it with your rolling pin, about an inch to an inch and a half thick. Don’t worry, it will rise a lot! You can either roll it round, or you can try to roll it out in a squareish shape. I like to pick up my disc of dough and flip it over to ensure that the biscuits don’t stick to my baking sheet. Using my pizza cutter, (it slides through the dough without sticking!) I slice the dough into pieces. And that’s it. I don’t separate the pieces before baking – they’ll bake up nicely and pull apart easily later.

5. Bake and enjoy.

Again, does this really count as a step? Well.. you gotta bake them so I suppose it does. =) Bake the biscuits at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes (or just until the tops start to brown a little bit.) They don’t need to brown much. Go ahead, crack one open! See how steamy and fluffy they are? You can just slide your little metal spatula under one of the pre-cut biscuits and lift it up out of there. How much easier could it be? Serve them up with a side of bacon and top them off with some good pepper or sausage gravy and enjoy. Or, if you prefer, slather with some butter and your favorite jam. Either way, you won’t be disappointed.

A few more tips to help you through it…

• You can either use this recipe for Copycat KFC Buttermilk Biscuits or you can use Pioneer Brand Baking Mix and follow the recipe on the box (subbing milk with buttermilk and adding a pinch of salt.) I have tried and tested both of these too many times to count. In my opinion the Pioneer brand baking mix has the best performance results and is one of the few things I splurge on rather than buying store brand.
• It’s important to use good baking powder. If your baking powder is old, your biscuits won’t rise well or at all.
• I substitute butter for lard! Wouldn’t you??
• Yes, buttermilk is a must. Believe me, I won’t go near the stuff outside of baking, but for baking purposes it’s “the bomb.” For some reason I don’t have a scienctific explanation for, buttermilk makes things fluffier.
• If you’d prefer, you can mix the dough and lightly press into a round, disposable, aluminum cake pan. Slice and bake as normal. This would be a great way to include some homemeade biscuits with a meal for a sick friend!

Homemade buttermilk biscuits work for me and now they can work for you too! Works for Me Wednesday is hosted by Kristen @ We Are THAT Family!

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