Sourdough Biscuits
4.5
(26)
Hate pouring excess sourdough starter down the drain? Instead, use it in this biscuit recipe, where it takes the place of buttermilk, adding tang and just a bit of lift. Milk-based starter (yeah, that’s a thing) is our preference, but for a delicious and totally dairy-free biscuit, use water-based starter and vegan butter.
Recipe information
Total Time
1 hour
Yield
Makes 10
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 425°. Stir together baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, sugar, and 1½ cups flour with a fork in a large bowl. Add ½ cup chilled butter and toss with your hands or fork just to coat. Using your fingers, smash butter into flat disks (if you miss a few, it will be fine). Using a pastry cutter or fork, work butter into dry ingredients until shaggy crumbles form (you should have some large pieces, some small pieces, some flat pieces, and some sandy flour).
Step 2
Add sourdough starter and mix gently with fork to incorporate, then fold with your hands just until dough comes together with just a few crumbly pieces in the bottom of the bowl.
Step 3
Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and pat out with your hands until about ½” thick (the shape doesn’t matter too much at this point). Fold into thirds as you would a letter to create a rough rectangle. Working from short sides, fold in thirds like a letter again. Pat dough out to a ½”-thick square. Repeat folding process. Pat out dough for a third time to a 1”-thick square—it should feel airy, like a pillow at this point. Using a floured 2½”-diameter biscuit cutter or glass, punch out as many biscuits as you can (do not twist cutter). Transfer biscuits to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, spacing at least 1” apart.
Step 4
Using your hands, gently press scraps into a rectangle, then fold in half. Pat out to a 1”-thick rectangle and cut out more biscuits. Gather remaining scraps together to form 1 final biscuit (you should have 10 total). Transfer to baking sheet. Brush biscuit tops with 2 Tbsp. melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt if desired
Step 5
Bake biscuits until tall and golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the side of a biscuit registers 205°F), 12–15 minutes.
Leave a Review
Reviews (26)
Back to TopThese are the best biscuits I have ever made. They freeze well too. Even though they are not there long!
dlpurvis
Summerfield, FL
6/12/2021
These biscuits turned out great. They rose beautifully, were flaky and the salt on the top really added to their appeal. I will be making this recipe again.
Anonymous
Melbourne, FL
4/26/2021
Why would any one have and throw away sourdough starter? Good biscuits.
bjlovitt
Montana
3/30/2021
Meh. Nothing special. Flavour was not what I would expect from a breakfast biscuit. Made only 6 biscuits. Quite a bit of fussing around to get there. However, they did rise nice and tall so that was nice. But, no thanks. Won't make again. They don't hold a candle to the baking powder biscuits I've been making for decades. I'll stick with those. Worth a try but won't make again.
glennacross
Kelowna, BC
3/25/2021
(Licks fingers...) Just made this for the first time. This is my go-to for biscuits now; what a great recipe! The ingredients are simple (thank you for developing a recipe that allows me to bake biscuits without running to the store for milk or buttermilk), but I think it is the mixing and folding that makes it. So flaky, great rise. Start to finish about 30 minutes so they’re makeable in the morning.
Jkavinoky
Birmingham, AL
11/13/2020
Omg.... the best flakiest biscuits ever.... and I am from a family of biscuit makers each with their coveted recipes and this is my new favorite. First time masking biscuits using my discarded sour bread dough starter. I love putting the discarded starter to good use!
llookdean
Tampa, Florida
6/23/2020
Decent but not great Biscuits These were all right, but didn't rise as much or have as good flavor as my regular old baking-powder biscuits. I'm little puzzled as to why they wouldn't rise more, because with the baking powder AND the sourdough starter there should have been more lift. I also feel the oven temp should be higher, 450, because they weren't browning normally either. If I make this again I'll leave out the baking soda because I kind of wanted the tang. I knew I wouldn't get it with the soda but thought I should stick to the recipe. Next time I'm going to leave it out.
mkmiraglia
Northern New Jersey
6/20/2020
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