Old Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuits

The biscuit a Southern grandmother would recognize on sight. The flour blend of all-purpose and cake flour is the secret behind the tender crumb. Cake flour has less protein, which means less gluten, which means a softer, more delicate biscuit than all-purpose alone. The all-purpose still provides enough structure to keep the biscuit standing tall.

Folding the dough two or three times after the initial mix is the technique that creates flaky layers. Each fold sandwiches a thin layer of butter between dough sheets. As the biscuits bake, the butter melts, releases steam, and the dough rises in distinct, peelable layers like puff pastry on a smaller scale.

Buttermilk does double duty in the dough. The acidity reacts with the baking powder to create extra lift, and the tang adds the slightly sour, almost cheese-like flavor that makes proper Southern biscuits taste different from the puffy refrigerator-can kind. A final brush of buttermilk on top before baking deepens the gold color of the crust.

A hot oven is the standard. Fast, intense heat puts steam into the layers immediately, which is what creates a tall biscuit. Lower temperatures dry out the surface before the lift can happen.

Pro Tips

• Keep the butter cold, ice cold even. Warm butter blends into the flour instead of staying in chunks, and you lose the flaky layers.
• Cut straight down with a knife, do not twist. Twisting seals the cut edges and prevents the biscuit from rising fully.
• Fold the dough exactly two or three times, no more. Over-folding develops gluten and toughens the biscuit.
• Brush the tops with buttermilk, not melted butter. Buttermilk sticks and browns; melted butter rolls off.

Variations

• Add grated sharp cheddar and a tablespoon of chopped chives for cheddar-chive biscuits.
• Stir sugar and a pinch of cinnamon into the flour for sweeter breakfast biscuits great with jam.
• Substitute heavy cream for some of the buttermilk for an even richer, more tender version.