Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Prep
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Gather your equipment and ingredients.
- Make sure your butter and buttermilk are very cold.
- Grind the kosher salt to a powder using a spice grinder, mortar and pestle, or the back of a spoon.
- Sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda together.
- Mix the ground salt into the sifted dry ingredients.
Cut in Fat
- Add the dry ingredients to the food processor.
- Add cold cubed butter and pulse until the butter is cut into small pea-sized pieces.
Form Dough
- Add most of the cold buttermilk to the dry ingredients, reserving about ¼ cup.
- Use a large wooden spoon to mix the dough until it starts to come together.
- Pour the dough out onto your counter.
- Fold the dough exactly 12 times, keeping the folds loose and shaping into an oval or rectangle.
- If the dough is too dry, use the reserved buttermilk to adjust consistency while folding.
Cut Biscuits
- Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to about ¾ inch thick.
- Dip the biscuit cutter in flour.
- Press the cutter straight down and pull straight up to cut biscuits, placing cuts as close together as possible.
- Dip the cutter in flour between each biscuit.
- Gather scraps gently, reshape, and cut the remaining biscuits.
Bake
- Arrange biscuits on an ungreased sheet pan, placing them together for taller rise or apart for even rise in all directions.
- Bake on the middle rack for 13-15 minutes until tops are golden brown.
Finish and Serve
- Remove immediately from the oven.
- Brush tops with melted salted butter.
- Serve as is, with jam, covered in gravy, or as a sandwich.
Disclosure: Nutrition is estimated and provided for general guidance.
Notes
The critical technique here is keeping everything cold—frozen butter, cold buttermilk, and minimal hand contact prevent the fat from melting prematurely, which creates those essential air pockets for fluffy biscuits. The 12-fold rule isn't arbitrary: fewer folds leave undistributed leavening with an off taste, while more folds develop too much gluten and produce tough, dense biscuits. Freeze these raw and bake straight from frozen after a one-hour thaw, or overnight in the fridge for maximum convenience. These work as a standalone side, breakfast base, or vessel for sausage gravy, fried chicken sandwiches, or egg and cheese builds. Vacuum sealing extends freezer life to nearly a year, making this a foundational batch component for any cooking system. If you don't have buttermilk, add 7 tablespoons of white vinegar or lemon juice to whole milk and let it sit for 10 minutes.
