Sourdough Butter Swim Biscuits

Sourdough butter swim biscuits are irresistibly rich and tender, baked in a bath of melted butter for a golden, crispy crust and a soft, buttery interior. This simple, indulgent recipe is perfect for a comforting breakfast or a delectable side dish.

Course Breakfast, Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword Sourdough Discard

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 25

Total Time 40

Servings biscuits

Calories 251kcal

Equipment

Baking Dish or Cake Pan (see notes for details)

Ingredients

300 g All Purpose Flour
150 g Sourdough Starter (or sourdough starter discard)
15 g Sugar
10 g Baking Powder
7 g Baking Soda
10 g Salt
250 g Buttermilk
113 g Butter (1 stick - I've used salted butter)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 220C (430F) and place the stick of butter into a square baking dish or cake pan. Place the dish into the oven so that the butter melts. While the butter is melting, make your dough.
In a large mixing bowl, add the all purpose flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Mix together until well combined.
Make a well in the centre of the dry flour mix and pour in the buttermilk and the sourdough starter. Use a spatula to gently bring the wet and dry ingredients into a wet dough. It will be quite marshmallowy and kind of like a big bowl of airy sourdough starter. Leave the batter to sit until the butter has melted in your dish.
Once the butter has fully melted, remove the pan from the oven and carefully pour in the biscuit batter. Use a spatula to smooth it out as best you can, but it will naturally level out in the oven anyway. The batter is literally swimming in butter - don't stress, the butter will absorb into the batter as it bakes. Trust the process!
Spray both sides of a dough scraper with oil and divide the dough into 9 even pieces. The batter will kind of fill in the lines, but this is ok.
Place the baking dish of sourdough butter swim biscuits into the oven for around 25 minutes or until they are golden brown and risen.
Remove the golden brown sourdough butter swim biscuits from the oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes so that any remaining butter can be absorbed. Use a knife to cut along the marked lines to form 9 biscuits and enjoy!

Notes

Baking Dish - I have tested this recipe a number of times and found that I prefer baking it in a 9" x 9" cake pan. I also baked it in my 9" x 11" Emile Henry Baking Dish and while they tasted amazing, they were odd shaped. I find they work better in a completely square baking dish or cake pan. Obviously this is personal preference so go by what you prefer.

Butter - I've used salted butter because I don't like unsalted. I have also added 10g of salt to the batter. If you don't like a lot of salt, consider using unsalted butter and halving the salt, but I find they are a bit flavorless with less salt. Again, this is personal preference.

Dividing the Dough - you do not have to do this step. You can simply cut the biscuits once they come out of the oven. It won't make too much difference.

Buttermilk - I have used buttermilk from making homemade butter. You can use store bought if you prefer. You can also just use whole milk. I recommend adding a splash of vinegar to your whole milk and allowing it to thicken for 5 minutes before adding to the batter.

Nutrition