Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe made from scratch with self-rising flour the old fashioned way.

It took a long time for me to learn how to make biscuits the way it was done back in the day.

Some folks made delicious biscuits, like Mama.

Some didn't, including my grandmothers.

No one had written recipes I watched Mama and my mother-in-law dip  into the flour bin for a bowl of flour, then pour buttermilk directly from a container into the flour.

Then scoop up a handful of lard.

It was hard to learn the amounts of ingredients, but I did.

I figured out measurements that made the best tasting biscuits with self-rising flour.

Here is the Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe I have been using for over sixfty years.

Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

• 2 cups self-rising flour
  
  
• 1/3 cup chilled lard
  
  
• 2/3 cup whole buttermilk
  
  
• 2 tablespoons melted butter (optional)
  
  

Additional 1/4-1/2 cup flour for sprinkling cutting board or pastry cloth and dipping cutter.

Also for kneading extra flour into dough if it is sticky.


Sift flour and place in a deep mixing bowl. Make a well in center of flour.

Place lard in well. Pour about 1/3 of the buttermilk at a time into well on top of the lard.

With a large fork or pastry blender, mix together lard and milk taking in a little flour into the mixture each time.

After all the milk has been added keep mixing in the flour gently, until all 2 cups of flour are incorporated.


Sprinkle cutting board or pastry cloth with a little of the additional flour.

Place ball of dough onto board.

If dough is sticky, knead a little extra flour in until the stickiness is gone.

Dip your fingers into flour and pat down the ball to about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches thick.


Dip biscuit cutter into excess flour before cutting each biscuit.

You will probably have 4-6 biscuits on the first cutting.

Place the biscuits on a greased cookie sheet or bread pan.

Gather the dough up and form into another ball and cut more biscuits until all dough is used up.


Place biscuits in a preheated oven 475 F. and bake 18-22 minutes until lightly browned and cooked inside.


Brush tops with melted butter, if desired and serve piping hot.


Makes 8-10 biscuits.

TIP: My Mother-In-Law always patted down her biscuits and topped them with buttermilk before putting them in the oven to soften the crust.

She used her index finger, dipping it in a small bowl of buttermilk.

You may use a pastry brush to brush tops with the milk.

Oil Biscuits Recipe

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
  
  

• 1 1/2 teaspoon double acting baking powder
  
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
  
• 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
  
  
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
  
  

Sift together sifted flour, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl.

With a spoon or your fingers, make a large well in the center of your flour mixture. 

Pour in milk and oil.

Gradually, slowly stir the mixtures together forming a dough ball.

Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough ball to keep it from sticking to the dough board or pastry cloth.

Lay the doughball on a cutting board or pastry cloth that has been sprinkled lightly with flour.

Pat down the dough a little, then carefully roll the dough with a rolling pen until it is about 1 1/2 inch thick, sprinkling on a little more flour if needed.

You want to handle the dough as lightly as possible to keep the flour gluten from activating as much as possible.

This technique keeps the biscuits more tender.

When the dough is ready cut the biscuits with a biscuit cutter or a straited edge glass.

Place the cut biscuits on a large cookie sheet or biscuit pan, 1 inch apart or almost touching, depending on whether you want strait sides.

If you like biscuits with more tasty brown tops and sides, bake them spaced a little apart. 

If you want straight sides so you can fill your biscuits with jelly or country ham or something else, place your biscuits on the baking sheet almost touching.

Bake biscuits in a preheated oven 375F. for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned. 

Serve your biscuits individually stacked on a platter, if desired. 

Cover just baked biscuits with a clean dish or hand towel.

History Of Biscuits

American Biscuits were first noted by John Palmer in his "Journal Of Travels" in the United States in 1818.

Biscuits were then called Butter Biscuits because they were made with butter and baking soda. 

Some of the biscuits back then were called Cathead biscuits. 

They were very large biscuits and made by pinching a piece of dough off for each biscuit, the same way many of us still do today.

Of course, we roll a piece of dough around in our palms and shape it into the size we all prefer. 

It is interesting that biscuits that we know and love today were made with self-ring flour that was invented in England in the 1800s as a way to create better baked goods. 

That inventor patented his invention in the United States Of America in 1849.

In the 1940s and 1950s I watched both my Grandmothers and Mama make biscuits. 

My two Grandmothers made biscuits with self-rising flour and Mama never, ever made biscuits without it. 

I never saw either Mama nor my Grandmothers cut out biscuits. 

It was always the pinch, roll in hand and pat down technique for making great, delicious biscuits in our home.

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Return to Homemade Bread Recipes


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