The Secret to the Best Homemade Biscuits
Guys! I recently figured out the secret to perfectly soft and flaky biscuits, and I am so excited about it. These qualify as the Best Ever Biscuits because they are not only super flaky, soft, and delicious, but they are also crazy easy to make! They are perfect for this Down Home Biscuits and Gravy Recipe.
I saw a video for making pie crust about a month ago with a tip for making the pie crust not just flaky, but also tender and silky. I was intrigued. The recipe had you put in a tablespoon of oil and stir it in before you cut in butter. Hmm, could the oil really do that?
It got me thinking about a tortilla recipe I have that has you use oil and shortening. I also thought about my favorite cookie bars that call for part oil and part butter. I’m no scientist, but I can see how the two different types of fat could do different things. And from the recipes I started connecting to this little technique, I would say the results are pretty great.
More Recipes with Great Tips
- Two Simple Tips for Making a Perfect Cheese Quesadilla
- Tips for Cooking a Turkey
- Classic Guacamole
- Toasted Coconut Recipe
- How to Make the Perfect Baked Potato
- Extra Crispy Roasted Potatoes
I decided to try it with my favorite biscuit recipe. I made them two different times just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and because the first time I made them I didn’t take pictures. After tasting them, I knew I needed to post this recipe. So I made another batch the next day.
The first batch I made–the one that didn’t get photographed–was so pretty. I used buttermilk, so they were much puffier than these. I was out of buttermilk when I made the ones in these pics, so I used milk with 2 tsp of white vinegar in it. They were still delicious and amazing. They just didn’t get as tall and puffy.
The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup of butter cut into the biscuits. So to try out the tip I learned from the pie crust videos, I added 1/4 cup canola oil to the dry ingredients (drizzling 1 tbsp at a time and mixing it in). This leaves little, little lumps in the dough–that is what you want.
Once I had incorporated the entire 1/4 cup of canola oil, I added 1/2 cup of cold butter and used a pastry cutter to cut it into the dough.
All you need to do after that is add the soured milk or buttermilk and mix it together, just enough to hold it together.
I like to put the dough out onto wax paper or parchment paper instead of straight onto my counter. You need to gently fold it over 5 times, and then gently press it to 3/4-inch thick, so it will be ready to cut into biscuits.
I sprinkle the wax paper with flour before I put the dough out on it, and I sprinkle the dough with flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Also, I use the wax paper to help me fold it over. You can see what I am talking about in the step-by-step pictures below.
Tips for Making the Best Ever Biscuits
- Cut the cold butter into smaller pieces, cubes, or inch slices. Doing this makes it easier to break up the butter with the pastry cutter.
- When adding the buttermilk or soured milk, be careful not to over-mix the dough.
- For easy cleanup, pour the mixture out onto a piece of wax paper or parchment paper sprinkled with flour.
- Sprinkle the top of the dough with a little flour if it is extra sticky.
- Use the wax paper to help fold the dough.
- Be careful not to overwork the dough. Remember, the less you work the dough, the flakier your biscuits will be.
- Biscuits freeze well. Put them in an airtight Ziploc bag in the freezer for up to two months.
Chef’s Tools for Making Biscuits:
Serve Biscuits with...
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ½ cup cold butter
- 1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup milk mixed with 2 tsp white vinegar (let the milk and vinegar mixture stand for 5 minutes)
- extra flour for dusting
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Lightly grease a cookie sheet and set aside. If you prefer, you can line it with parchment paper instead.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
- Drizzle canola oil into the flour mixture one tbsp at a time, stirring between each increment.
- Cut cold butter into smaller pieces, cubes, or inch slices. (This just makes it easier to break up with the pastry cutter.) Add it to the flour mixture.
- Use a pastry blender to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture. You want the butter pieces to be very small. The size of a small pea is what you are going for.
- At this point, add the buttermilk and mix well enough to incorporate everything, but be careful not to over-mix.
- Pour the mixture out onto a floured countertop, or as I suggest in the post, onto a piece of wax paper or parchment paper that you have sprinkled with flour.
- Sprinkle the top of the dough with a little flour if it is extra sticky. Push it down gently, and then fold the dough over and press it out gently to an inch or so thick again. Do this five times. You may need to sprinkle the dough with a little more flour during this time.
- On the fifth time, gently press the dough out to ¾- to 1-inch thick. I do ¾-thick because I have a big family and want to get as many biscuits out of the dough as possible.
- Use a biscuit cutter or a cup to cut out circles of dough. Place them an inch or two apart on the cookie sheet you prepared.
- Take leftover dough pieces and gently bring them back together to keep making biscuits. Be as gentle as you can and be careful not to overwork the dough. Remember, the less you work the dough, the flakier your biscuits will be.
- Once you have all of the biscuits cut and on the cookie sheet, place them in the 425-degree oven and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops are starting to just slightly brown.
- Serve and enjoy!
- Biscuits freeze well. Put them in an airtight Ziploc bag, and they can stay good in the freezer for up to two months.
If you love Biscuits, you will love these...
I’m excited to try this “secret” for biscuits and pie crust.
Another tip that does make a difference in how high your biscuits get is to use an actual biscuit cutter to cut them out. It’ll have a sharper edge than a glass or a can or whatever makeshift cutter you use. Cut straight down…no twisting the biscuits out. Hope this makes sense. Try it!?
I am so glad you told me this, I have always wondered why my biscuits don’t seem to get as high as everyone else’s. Makes so much sense!
I have tried several of your recipes with great results. Looking forward to trying this recipe but have a quick question. What are you using in the photo where you cut in the butter? It looks like a handheld mixer. Wondered if that would make it easier to cut in the butter. I have a pastry cutter but am always looking for shortcuts:)
Hi Barbara, I am so happy to hear you’ve enjoyed my recipes. In that picture It’s actually the Pampered chef brand pastry blender.
Made these for the first time last night and they were a big hit. We had to go dairy free recently so I used Earth Balance butter and oatmilk and they still turned out great. Replacing butter with oil is a trick we have learned that makes dough amazing to work with! Never thought of doing it with biscuits.
Yay! So glad they were a hit and that is great to know they still turn out great with those substitutions! 🙂