Buttery and flaky sourdough biscuits - the ultimate comfort food - and a great way to use your sourdough starter or sourdough discard.
Course Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword Sourdough Discard
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 49 minutesminutes
Servings 12
Calories 188kcal
Ingredients
330gAll Purpose Flour
10gSugar
12gBaking Powder
3gSalt
4gBaking Soda
100gUnsalted ButterVery Cold (see notes)
200gSourdough Starteror Sourdough Starter Discard (see notes)
80 - 100gButtermilkor milk (see notes)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 190C (374F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Grate the butter with a box grater and set aside in the freezer until you're ready for it.
Place flour, sugar, baking power, baking soda and salt into a large mixing bowl. Mix with a large spoon until well combined.
Take your butter out of the freezer and place into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Cut the butter through the flour. It's best to do this with a dough scraper or spatula, but you can use your fingers if you prefer (but be fast as you don't want the butter to melt).
Now tip the buttermilk and sourdough starter into the butter and flour mix. Bring together with a rubber spatula until it's a dry dough (I start with 80g of buttermilk and add a touch more if I need it).
Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold it gently until the dough comes together better. You want to create layers in the dough to give your sourdough biscuits that lovely flaky, buttery texture.
Gently roll the dough out to around a 2 centimetres thick (¾ inch) and press out rounds using a sharp biscuit cutter or a glass. Don't twist the dough, just press straight down.
Place the biscuits onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place into the oven at 190C (374F) for around 19 minutes (it will vary slightly depending on your oven).
Brush the tops with butter when they come out of the oven ... and enjoy!
Notes
you can use either active sourdough starter or sourdough discard - it doesn't really matter for this recipe.
make sure your butter is COLD! In fact, take it from the fridge, grate it and then pop it in the freezer! The colder it is, the better your sourdough biscuits will be.
buttermilk will give you the best flavor and texture, but if you don't have any buttermilk you can use whole milk with a dash of white vinegar. Let it sit for 10 minutes before adding to your sourdough biscuit dough.
For the flakiest, tallest biscuits, you can cut the dough into four strips and stack them on top of each other before you roll the dough out. This will give you plenty of layers when they rise.
Don't twist the biscuit or cookie cutter. If you twist it, it will seal the edges of the dough and stop them from rising as much as they could. Just push the cutter straight down and then back up. You really want something with a sharp edge, so a glass is better than a mason jar if you don't have a biscuit cutter.