How To Make Buttermilk Biscuits
I told my mother I was going to do a web tutorial on how to make buttermilk biscuits, a staple in the south. She said “Oh, you HAVE to do those from Southern Living!”. Now, admittedly, they are awfully good. So good, in fact, that my mother has abandoned the long taught family method in lieu of this one. The finished product is lighter and more tender than our usual biscuit and it is worth the effort. If you have had problems in the past with your biscuits turning out to be more like hockey pucks than our beloved southern staple, this recipe is the one for you.
The cast! Featuring milk from Piggly Wiggly and WHITE LILY FLOUR. White Lily is essential if you live below the Mason Dixon line. Bakers around the country have gone wild for it as well. Its a super fine flour made from soft winter wheat, rather than the usual hard winter wheat. The texture of the flour and the baked goods it produces is remarkable.
So basically, you need butter or margarine, milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice added (because I never have buttermilk in the house so this is a homemade concoction), and self rising flour. Thats it! (The actual recipe is at the bottom of this page)
For those of you who have no idea what self rising flour is….
You’ll also need salt and baking powder to make your biscuits rise :). This is only IF you don’t have self rising flour available where you live. White Lily is also available in all purpose 
Put your flour in a bowl (With the salt and baking powder stirred into it if you don’t have self rising) and toss in the margarine. Now you need a pastry cutter or fork with long tines , which is what I use.
Begin by simply cutting the butter into the flour. Sit down and turn on the tv, this will take a few minutes (make sure your butter is cold).
When it looks like this and you can’t find any lumps of butter, you’re good to go :). Stick this bowl in the fridge for ten to fifteen minutes. If this is your first time making biscuits with this method, I recommend fifteen. The colder it is, the easier the next step is going to be.
Add a tablespoon of lemon juice to your milk before you go get your bowl out of the fridge. Stir it around and let it sit a minute or two.
Pour milk into flour mixture and stir until just moistened.
This is much looser than your typical biscuit dough, but it should look something like this.
Flour a surface. I like to roll out waxed paper or do this on a large baking sheet so I don’t have such a hassle with the counter top. Most folks just use the counter top though. Be generous with the flour, you’re going to need it.
Dump out your dough onto the floured surface and sprinkle more flour on top of it.
Brush some flour on your hands and then wipe down your rolling pin really well. This is a family heirloom. My great grandmother bought it with green stamps for my mother when she was twelve. Once you have flour on your dough and on your hands, knead the dough with your hands two or three times. Don’t over knead your dough!
Roll it out until it is about 3/4 of an inch. Then lightly square it off with your hands. It should be about 9×5 inches at this point. you are going to have to stop after rolling it the first time and wipe down your rolling pin with flour again, as well as sprinkle some more on the dough to keep it from sticking.
Here is where these little suckers take on a bit of arrogance in my book. Normally, you would just roll it out and cut them, but in this recipe we want tender little p
illowy biscuits, so we’re going to put a little more effort in them. Take one side of your dough and roll it over to the middle. Repeat with the next side until you have something like this.
Now pat or roll that out with your hands back to the original 3/4 inch and gently shape it back into a rectangle.
Repeat this process of folding over and patting out two more times. Don’t be afraid to dust your surface and your dough with a little more flour if need be. Oh, and you didn’t really have to use the rolling pin, you could have just patted it out all along with your hands, but I wanted to show you my heirloom rolling pin!
Now we’re ready to cut our biscuits. Most folks would use a biscuit cutter for this, but diehard southerners know the only way to do it is to use a swanky swig! Tin can is also acceptable as is a drinking glass. I used a smaller mouthed swanky swig because I prefer a bit smaller biscuits. I have small people in my house.
Cut out your biscuits by pushing straight down with your glass, don’t twist it. I didn’t really waste all of this dough but I was trying to make it look a little more uniform for the picture. Normally, we cut them suckers one right on top of the other, then wad up the leftovers, pat it out, and cut again.
Place these on a well greased baking sheet and make sure the sides touch, This helps them rise evenly and higher.
Bake at 450 for thirteen to fifteen minutes.
Until they look like this.
While still hot, brush with melted butter.
Now you’re done!
Alrighty, here is the actual recipe and I promise I will put an easier one up on my blog but after doing all of this work to get the tutorial posted, I’m thinking these aren’t that pretentious after all.
Buttermilk Biscuits
1/2 cup cold butter or margarine
2 1/4 c self rising soft wheat flour
1 1/4 c buttermilk (or whole milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice added)
flour for dusting
melted butter for brushing baked biscuits
*To make your own self rising flour, simply add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt for EACH cup of all purpose flour.
1. Cut butter with a sharp knife or pastry blender into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Sprinkle butter slices over flour in a large bowl. Toss butter with flour. Cut butter into flour with a pastry blender until crumbly and mixture resembles small peas. Cover and chill 10 minutes. Add buttermilk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 3 or 4 times, gradually adding additional flour as needed. With floured hands, press or pat dough into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle (about 9 x 5 inches). Sprinkle top of dough with additional flour. Fold dough over onto itself in 3 sections, starting with 1 short end. (Fold dough rectangle as if folding a letter-size piece of paper.) Repeat entire process 2 more times, beginning with pressing into a 3/4-inch-thick dough rectangle (about 9 x 5 inches).
3. Press or pat dough to 1/2-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface; cut with a 2-inch round cutter, and place, side by side, on a parchment paper-lined or lightly greased jelly-roll pan. (Dough rounds should touch.)
4. Bake at 450° for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven; brush with 2 Tbsp. melted butter.
VOILA!! I’m done!!!!
Tomorrow, fried green tomatoes!
Fantastic job! Made my mouth water from some of those darn biscuits!
Thank you! I’m actually just getting the site up and going today! Keep checking back, I hope to include tons of recipes that you will enjoy! Thanks so much!
Ok I am southerner girl from Texas and for the life of me I cannot make a homemade biscuit. Gasp I know but if you want a good old hockey puck, that i can make LOL. I am going to give your recipe a try. Hopefully mine will be as beautiful as yours.
The secret is to not over knead your dough, that’s what makes it tough and keeps it from rising. If you’ll hang on, I will get you an easier recipe for biscuits every bit as good but without all the fuss!!
I love this recipe and it is my preference, but it is NOT the one I use most often! When you have kids, who has time for all that folding mess? ~grins~
I have never been able to make good biscuits from scratch. It’s probably because I’m a yankee and never had anyone around who could show me how to make them properly. But now that you’ve done me the enormous service of showing me how to do it step by step I’m going to try again. Thanks!
I must be kneading too much. I haven’t had much luck with my biscuits. I’ll be trying this recipe out. Thanks for sharing!
The beauty of this recipe is that there really isn’t any kneading involved….the dough gets kneaded but not by how you normally would.
I’ll never forget the first time my Dad made homemade buttermilk biscuits. It was the first year he had bought us all season tickets to hockey at the local civic center (yes, we do have hockey in Alabama!). We thought they were so cool because they looked and felt like hockey pucks! Classic over kneading.
He did improve though! I was going to post a different biscuit recipe that I use about as often as I do this one but upon looking over this one again, I actually think beginning biscuit makers will have better luck with this method. Remember to have your biscuits touching, that really helps them rise.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to stop by and read my recipes!!! I do hope you will come back often and if you ever have any questions at all just give me a holler!!!
Y’all know how to make a mess of biscuits! I LOOOOVE southern cooking even though I’m from the North (my parents were from the South though) so I’m just eating up your blog. Hitting the subscribe button now!
Francie
http://www.frantichomecook.com
They look delicious! I will surely try them although my figure is beginning to look very Paula Deen-ish.(I love her!) I have a rolling pin that looks just like the one in your picture. I received it as a wedding gift in 1970 and many pies and biscuits later it is still rolling right along. Thanks for the recipe!
Want to hear a funny rolling pin story? My great grandmother had a special rolling pin which my mother really wanted. Turns out, her sister wanted it as well.
Grandmama thrilled my mother by bestowing Great Granny’s rolling pin upon her. Mama was so proud.
In passing one day, her sister mentioned having Great Granny’s rolling pin though, which obviously confused Mama a great deal.
Turns out, Grandmama hated to give it to one of them and have the other one feel slighted, so she purchased another one at an antique store so they could both have “the” rolling pin! No one knows who has the actual rolling pin!!
I hope you do get to try the biscuits and just remember, plump people are nicer than skinny people because skinny people are always hungry and therefore in bad moods. ~grins~
so EAT up and be a better person!
hehe!
Oh and Anonymous, you are so right..
Paula Deen rocks.
Hi Southern Plate! Just found you from the July Foodbuzz newsletter! This is a great recipe..thank you for sharing it! I love baking..but the two things I have never made but want to are buttermilk biscuits and scones..LOL! Your step by step is a great tutorial! I’ll be bookmarking this.
I’ll look forward to visiting again!. And congratulations for being featured this month! 
Ciao!
Hey Laurie! I’m so glad you found me! I hope that tutorial works well for you but if you have any questions at all or any suggestions please let me know!
I’m trying to find the July newsletter on Foodbuzz so I can see what you saw! lol!
Do you have a link?
Thank you so much for stopping by…I’m heading off to your blogs soon as my three year old takes a nap!
Mmmmm looks great! As a southern transplanted Yankee, I’ve discovered how much I love White Lilly flour… and southern food! I’ve been trying forever to get a good buttermilk biscuit recipe, and have only had marginal success. These will go on my “try em” plate!
JennyDee
Some of my best friends over the years have been transplanted yankees. As far as I am concerned y’all are just southerners who talk “funny” ~winks and grins~ and have recipes we haven’t got to try yet!
Good to see you!!
Christy
The only thing I could add….concerning the leftover dough. My mother would take it and lovingly “hand-form” a biscuit which we referred to as the “cooks biscuit”. It was always a bit bigger than the regular biscuits and for a reason. Whoever among us kids was best behaved that day…..and mom used the cooks biscuit as a carrot…..was awarded the cooks biscuit at supper that evening. If she wasn’t pleased with any of us, my dad got it….and that was NEVER a good thing.
What an interesting and precious story - and what a SMART mother!!!!!
Thank you so much for sharing that! I’m calling *my* mother now to read it to her!!
Good to meet you, Phillip!
The more I read, the prouder I am of my southern family! We recently lost my grandmother, and many of our wonderful recipes went with her…these might just help fill the void though. (I have yet to make any biscuits that are even close to hers, but I’m trying these!!) Thanks for the easy to follow instructions, and for reminding me of swanky swigs…all of mine broke several years ago, so I’m gonna have to cheat and use a jelly glass.
Wow and I thought my home town was the only place that still had a “Pig”, lol.
I love biscuits as well. Biscuits and gravy is my fav breakfast food for as long as I can remember, even before walking according to my grand mother, lol.
I am glad to come across your blog, its great and maybe we can link.. let me know and happy cooking!
Pandora: I’m so sorry it took me this long to respond to your comment! I thought I had already responded, swore I did, but my reply isn’t here!
I’m sorry about your grandmother :(. Please, if there are any recipes of hers that you are looking for, let me know. If I don’t immediately have them, I will do my best to find them for you. Nothing will ever taste as good as hers, but we can try.
As for swanky swigs, I broke one of mine recently and now am down to only one. Looks like its time to start scouring Ebay again!
Let me know how the biscuits turn out!
Noor, I had a great time browsing your blog briefly while the kids were playing outside at the aquarium today! I would love to add you to my list of favorite links and will do so as soon as I get home tomorrow or Tuesday (may be late tomorrow night!).
Thank you so much for coming by and I look forward to reading more of your blog!
oh, yum! i just got home from a ’southern road trip’ on which i became addicted to biscuits with honey butter. we don’t have biscuits here in new jersey–thanks for the recipe. i’m off to bake!!!
Curlywurlygurly: So glad you stopped by and found something you liked! Let me know if you have any questions at all, I know they will be delicious!
Love your blog! I got several smiles and a few giggles out of my first glance!
Christy
Looks so good. My husband loves biscuits
Thank you, Julie!
You have a great blog! The Rumpledoodles look fantastic!
I just discovered your blog and decided to try these biscuits. I have been making biscuits for 40 years and these are the best ones I have ever turned out! They are dee-lish!! I can’t believe I missed a Southern Living recipe, but I’m happy I found you and the recipe now!
Anonymous: Welcome to Southern Plate!
That is high praise indeed! I am thrilled you like them and that I could offer that recipe to you!!!
Stay tuned, I got plenty more up my sleeve! If you ever have any questions or requests just give me a holler and THANK YOU for commenting!
Christy
“I hope you do get to try the biscuits and just remember, plump people are nicer than skinny people because skinny people are always hungry and therefore in bad moods. ~grins~ “
HOW RUDE AND DISRESPECTFUL TO YOUR READERS! IS THIS SUPPOSED TO MAKE ME COME BACK TO YOUR SITE?
Aw honey! I am so sorry you saw that! It was only intended for readers with a sense of humor. =D
I’m not sure if you know what a scone is but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scone_(bread)
Biscuits ‘look’ to be the same as scones, but I’ve never been a fan of scones primarily because they leave a very dry feeling in your mouth.
Oh and usually scones are eaten with a sweet spread/topping, like jam and cream, but you can get savoury scones (cheese, herb type variants). Because scones & biscuits seem to be almost the same thing to me, it was a little bizarre to have them served with a main meal. I suppose in that sense a biscuit takes the place of a dinner roll?
Hey Su!
In my culinary class in college, biscuits and scones used the same exact recipe up until the part where you typically add fruit or a sweet seasoning or spice to scones. They are basically the same thing.
Biscuits here are eaten traditionally at breakfast, but also served with meals from time to time, in place of dinner rolls just as you suspected! Often in restaurants here they will bring you a plate of hot biscuits and bowls of butter and jelly to slather on them while you wait on your food to arrive.
As a bread, they can be considered dry but most biscuits are somewhat moist. Either way, we usually serve them hot with butter so the tender bread soaks that right up. Other popular toppings are molasses, honey, milk gravy, jams and jellies, apple butter, fruit preserves, and assorted meats.
All of our restaurants such as McDonald’s and Burger King and such sell biscuits for breakfast with meat inside them, like sandwiches. My favorite is a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit!
When we eat them at supper, we have tons of sweet tea to go along with them although I would not say they leave a dry taste in your mouth because the bread, as I said, is rather moist and tender and we also add toppings.
At breakfast they are accompanied by coffee and juice and such. All of the restaurants around here serve sweet tea at breakfast too. Sweet tea is always iced in the south.
I think I just rambled all around the block for you on that one! Did that answer your question?
Christy
haha….yes yes thank you.
I have never eaten scones with a main meal, and I don’t think anyone does here. I remember seeing KFC and other fast food places selling meals with a biscuit and my first thought was “Why would you want to eat a biscuit (ie. cookie) with your meal” and then when I looked closer and saw it was more like a scone, I had no idea how you were supposed to eat it with your meal!
I’ve had scones before. The first thing a southerner does when they taste one is look kind of funny and declare “Well this is just a biscuit!”. Hehe.
The reason biscuits became so widespread with mealtimes in the south is because they are a very inexpensive way to make a meal go further and still fill everyone up. When poor families had sometimes as many as ten or more children and one skinny little chicken for supper, flour was still cheap and bought in large quantities. Biscuits could be made aplenty and kept people from going hungry.
My great Aunt Louise used to always say “Many a family would have starved to death if it weren’t for biscuits and gravy”. That is the God’s truth, too!
Hi,I just literally stumbled onto your site.
I am going to try this great looking recipe!
Thanks so much for sharing,they look so absolutely fabulous!
Got any good mac’n'cheese recipes anywhere? I’m off to look.
What a wonderful post and blog!!
I’ll try as soon as I get back. 
Thanks a lot for sharing and the tutorial. I’m on vacation and your recipe makes me miss my kitchen more
A food blogger next door
I will be in Georgia at the end of this month I am hoping to find that flour and bring it back with me to Canada.
Making biscuits was me and my grandmother’s “special time”; she’d wake me up early every day during our visits so I could “help” her make biscuits. But I never really “helped” that much — I just cut the biscuits after she finished rolling and folding (she lived in the west side of AL, a little south of the TN border).
I never saw her measure anything she cooked, so she wasn’t able to write down the recipe for me. I tried to make them on my own, using cookbooks (before the internet), but wasn’t happy with the hockey pucks.
But I had forgotten about her folding them a few times like you did here. Now that you’ve reminded me about the folding, I’m going to try again, especially now that you’ve explained how to add lemon to sweet milk (she used real buttermilk, which they usually had on hand because they liked to crumble their cornbread into it, along with diced onions).
We ate the biscuits with eggs and meat — either bacon, sausage, or steak on Sundays. They also liked mixing jam, honey, or syrup with butter to spread on the biscuits. And of course she’d occasionally make Chocolate Gravy for them, YAY! But they didn’t eat regular gravy on their biscuits — I didn’t try that until I was a young adult in Texas. I’m glad I learned to make sausage and cream gravy, because hubby just loves it (he’s from the Tx Panhandle).
thank you for the great toutorial. Love your recipes. They are so yummy and simple. Tanks again. Doreen
I love Buttermilk biscuits. I make them but instead of using buttermilk I use Kefir. Taste great.
Dora Renee’ Wilkerson
mama had more siblings than i have fingers, so they each had different responsibilities and chores on the farm to keep things running.
unfortunately, biscuit making or baking WAS NOT one of her chores, and though she can whip up enough seriously tasty vittles for an army in her sleep, i missed out on fresh hot biscuits that weren’t from a can.
yeah, i know, i was deprived.
so, i have to visit an aunt for that now that my granny is long gone, and i was too young and foolish to learn from her while she was still with us… but i can’t help but wonder if my fascination with baking has been to fill the void in mama’s repertoire, because i’m simply never going to make better gravy than her, so why try!
i’m going to start here, with the warning NOT to over knead!!! thanks, c. i look forward to working up to your “grown-up” version!
Just wanted to say we finally tried your buscuit recipe. It was so easy to make I actually didn’t do anything, just supervised my 10 year old. They are the best buscuits I’ve ever had! Thank you so much!
Gotta give this a try. maybe I won’t have hockey pucks ever again. LOL Judy
You should do a video and post it on You Tube. These look great!
OK I have finally found what I was looking for. OK so it took me almost an hour and a half to make the biscuts and grave, but that is just fine with me as my 2 children did most of the work for me and they are only 8 and 3. And they are every bit as good as I or my grandma would have made. So I have desided that your websit is heaven sent. TYVM Southern Plate
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