Sourdough Biscuits

My sourdough biscuits rise sky high with perfectly buttery, flaky layers. They can be made with sourdough discard or starter. My new favorite biscuits!

Recipe includes a how-to video!

Course Bread, Breakfast

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 12

Total Time 27

Servings servings

Calories 246kcal

Author Sam Merritt

Equipment

Baking sheet
Mixing bowls
2 ½” Round biscuit cutter (or use the rim of a glass!)

Ingredients

1 cup (125 g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar honey, or coconut sugar (see note if using honey)
1 teaspoon table salt
8 Tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter very cold (see note)
¾ cup (165 g) sourdough discard

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F (218C) and lightly butter a 9” pie pan. Set aside.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.
1 cup all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon table salt
Use a box grater to grate the cold butter into small pieces. Add to the flour mixture and combine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (the butter pieces will still be very discernible, this is normal, just make sure it’s mixed into the flour!)
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Add the sourdough discard and use a spoon or spatula to work the ingredients together until just combined. Do not over-work the dough. If needed, you can use your hands to work it together (the dough is quite dry, but will come together), just be brief as the warmth from your hands will warm the dough and the goal is to keep it cold.
¾ cup sourdough discard
Laminating: Once the dough is clinging to itself, place on a clean, lightly floured surface and fold it in half over itself. Use your hands to gently flatten the layers together, then rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold/flatten again. Repeat this step 5 times, working quickly to not warm the dough too much or over-work it.
Use your hands to flatten the dough to be just under 1” thick (2.5cm). Lightly dust a 2 ½” (6.3cm) round biscuit cutter with flour.
Press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough (do not twist it!) and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet. Make close cuts and repeat until you have cut as many biscuits as possible.
Once you’ve cut as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-form the dough to cut out more biscuits. You should get at least 6 biscuits.
Arrange biscuits into pie plate, it is fine if they are barely touching or nearly touching.
Bake on 425F (218C) for 12 minutes or until the tops are beginning to just turn a light golden brown.
If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.

Video

Notes

Butter

Chill your butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It’s ideal that the butter is very cold to get flaky, light, buttery sourdough biscuits.

Honey

If using honey, stir it in with the sourdough starter and note that you may need more flour to keep the dough from being too sticky/wet. Just add as needed.

Coconut sugar

This works great as an alternative to sugar, but my biscuits never look as pretty as when they are made with granulated sugar. The biscuits in the photos were made with granulated sugar. The ones in the video were made with coconut sugar to illustrate the difference.

Active Sourdough

You can substitute the sourdough discard for an equal amount of sourdough starter, though I find it makes it even harder to form the dough. If I make this with active starter, I will often prepare the biscuits through step 8 and then cover the pie plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, which develops the flavor and allows fermentation to happen. When baked straight from the refrigerator, I find the biscuits often need 14-15 minutes (sometimes even a little longer) in the oven.

Browning

These sourdough biscuits will turn a light golden color, but won’t become a deep golden brown. If you’re looking for this effect, brush your biscuits with milk, cream, or even an egg wash before baking.

Storage

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Nutrition