Homemade Biscuits

Once you’ve made this easy recipe, you’ll never go back to the store-bought canned biscuits again! The crumb of these homemade biscuits is tender, and they are sky-high with so many flaky, buttery layers. I developed this recipe years ago, and I’m revisiting the post to share some more tips and tricks I’ve learned after making dozens and dozens of biscuits since then. I’m sharing my essential tips for how to get perfect biscuits every time, why laminating your biscuits is important, and more.

A reader, Kelly, says: “Wow, I thought I had found my ultimate biscuit recipe until I tried these. Of course cutting and folding would cause skyhigh biscuits. Everyone raved. These are super easy to make and are spectacular.” ★★★★★

The Key To Perfect Biscuits

After making these biscuits more times than I can possibly count, I’ve identified three key points that are essential to making biscuits tall, flaky, and tender. This recipe is easy to make, but knowing these points can help you successfully make the perfect batch of biscuits on your very first try!

• Cold butter is essential: This lays the foundation for successfully baking up the flakiest biscuits! Why? The most important factor in flaky biscuits is cold butter. The butter gets worked into smaller pieces throughout the dough, and once the cold butter hits the hot oven, it steams. This steam pushes the dough apart, creating little pockets of air (which we in turn refer to as “flakiness”) while also pushing the biscuits up so they become taller. If the butter melts into the dough before it hits the oven, those pockets won’t steam, and the biscuits won’t have distinct flakes.
• Don’t overwork the dough: The dough should still be a bit crumbly after the milk is added. Mixing it until the dough is pasty or isn’t crumbly at all will overwork it. That’s not ideal because the more you work the dough, the more gluten strands you develop. And the more gluten that’s developed, the higher chance you have of the biscuits turning out tough, dense, and flat. The less you work the dough, the more tender and fluffy the biscuits will be!
• Laminate the dough: Building up layers of butter in the biscuits is the key to the flakiest biscuits. (more on that below!) It also brings the dough together— it will start out a bit crumbly, but with each fold, cut, and stack, it will bring the dough together in one mass without overworking it.

Key Ingredients

These are the main ingredients you need to make this easy biscuit recipe. You can find the full list of ingredients and measurements in the recipe card below.

Flour — for the best biscuit, I prefer using all-purpose flour. You don’t want a flour with a high protein content, like bread flour, because the proteins are what develop gluten, and more gluten results in a tougher biscuit. If you prefer a lighter biscuit, you can replace up to ½ cup (60g) of the all-purpose flour with cake flour.

Butter — a high-quality butter isn’t required here, but it does make the biscuits that much better. I like using high-fat European butter like Kerrygold or Pelugra for super flaky, extra buttery-tasting biscuits when I can. I developed and tested this recipe with Land O’Lakes butter, so I know it works very well with your standard butter sticks, too.

Whole milk — regular whole milk works great in this recipe! I chose this standard milk so that you wouldn’t have to worry about having a specialty or less common household ingredient like buttermilk on hand to whip up a batch of biscuits in the morning. Make sure it’s cold when you add it to the dough to help keep the butter from melting as you shape the biscuits.

Baking powder — to get tall biscuits, make sure the baking powder has not expired! We don’t use yeast in this recipe, so the baking powder does the heavy lifting.

Sugar — this biscuit recipe isn’t sweet, but in recipe testing, I found that adding a little bit of sugar enhanced the flavor of the biscuits. It also helped them develop a nice brown top and bottom crust.

Why Lamination Makes Tall And Flaky Biscuits

In this recipe, I use a technique called a fold and stack. This gently laminates the biscuits by folding the dough onto itself, cutting it in half, and then stacking it, making 4 layers of dough. Each time you do this set, you increase the layers by 4. My recipe calls for doing this 4 times, so by the end, you have 16 layers. (It’s a similar technique to my puff pastry and buttermilk biscuits.)

I’ve been asked by readers if this is an important step or if they can skip it. For this recipe, it’s important not only to bring the dough together as previously mentioned, but it’s also essential if you want tall, flaky biscuits.

I had my team test biscuits with one set of folding and cutting to compare them to the four sets the recipe calls for. As you can see, the biscuit with four sets is much taller than the single-set biscuit and has lots of flaky layers. Remember, butter steams in the hot oven and pushes the dough up, so the more layers, the more opportunity for the butter to push those layers up.

Pro Tips For Making The Best Biscuits

Measure the flour correctly. Mismeasuring your flour can result in biscuits that are gummy in the center or too dry. Using a scale is the most accurate way to get the exact right amount of flour and have consistent results every time. If you don’t have a scale, fluff the flour in the container with a spoon, sprinkle it into a dry measuring scoop, and level it off with the flat edge of a knife.

For even taller biscuits, place them right next to each other on the baking sheet. Doing so will actually help them rise higher by giving each biscuit some structural support as it rises. This will produce less crispy sides, so if you prefer a crisp biscuit all around, space them an inch or two apart.

If your kitchen is warm, freeze your cubed butter before you start. Popping it in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes beforehand helps it hold up better as you work it into the biscuit dough. This is also a great trick if you have warm hands and aren’t using a pastry blender!

When cutting the biscuits, don’t twist the cutter. Press it straight down into the dough and lift it straight up. Twisting can compress or pull the layers, making the biscuits rise less or flop over while baking.

Don’t have a round cookie or biscuit cutter? Shape the dough into a 9-inch square, then cut the dough into thirds in both directions, making 3-inch squares. I use a chef’s knife or bench scraper to cut the biscuits, using a straight downward motion (do not pull or drag the blade, or you can compress the sides).

How To Make Biscuits

Below, I’ve highlighted portions of the recipe in step-by-step process images along with instructions for making homemade biscuits. You can find the full set of instructions in the recipe card below.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the cubed butter.

2. Toss in the cubed butter to coat with flour. Using a pastry blender or by rubbing the butter pieces between your fingers, work the butter into the flour until the butter pieces range in size from peas to almonds.

3. Using a silicone spatula, fold the milk into the flour mixture until most of the flour is moistened, but the dough is still crumbly. (Don’t over mix it. It will come together in the next step).

4. Turn out onto a well-floured surface.

5. With floured hands, pat the dough to a 1-inch thick rectangle. Fold the dough in half.

6. Cut the dough in half crosswise and stack the two halves on top of each other. Pat the dough into a rectangle again.

7. Repeat folding, cutting, stacking, and patting 3 more times.

8. Roll the finished dough of this biscuit recipe to about ¾ to 1-inch thickness and cut into biscuits using a 2½ to 3-inch round floured cookie cutter. Place biscuits on a prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops and bottoms are golden brown. Immediately brush the biscuits with melted butter, if desired.

How To Store

Biscuits are best the day you bake them. However, you can store the biscuits at room temperature for up to 3 days. To reheat the biscuits, place them in the air fryer at 350°F for 3 to 5 minutes or the oven at 350°F for 5 to 10 minutes.

Freezing unbaked biscuits: Unbaked biscuits can be frozen by placing them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze until solid, then put them in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen as instructed, adding about 5 extra minutes to the baking time.

How To Serve

A hot biscuit is perfect with a slathering of salted or honey butter and your favorite jam. (Brian loves raspberry jam, and the boys always request strawberry jam!) You can take it a step further and drizzle straight honey on top. Or, turn them into the best breakfast sandwich with bacon, cheese, and a scrambled egg.

More Biscuit Recipes To Try

If you’re looking to expand your biscuit-making skills, try one of these other delicious recipes!

My super-easy drop biscuits are ready in under 30 minutes. No rolling or cutting required— just scoop them straight from the bowl onto the baking sheet and bake!

Cheddar biscuits are packed with gooey strands of cheese, stir together, and bake up super fast. Serve them for breakfast or as a bread basket side for dinner.

These classic strawberry shortcakes take a scratch-made flaky biscuit and fill it with a cloud of whipped cream and juicy, fresh strawberries.

You can beat a weekend breakfast plate full of biscuits and gravy! Use your favorite sausage for the gravy and serve it over your favorite freshly baked biscuits.

Sweet potato biscuits are perfect for the holidays or any winter breakfast menu. Mashed sweet potatoes add moisture and sweetness to the buttery biscuits.

If you’ve tried this biscuit recipe, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!