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Buttermilk Sourdough Biscuits

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These easy buttermilk sourdough biscuits are tender and flaky with just the right amount of sourdough tang. A quick and simple recipe for using your leftover sourdough starter discard, and a perfect easy recipe for beginner sourdough bakers!

These easy sourdough biscuits are a perfect use of your sourdough discard. The slight tang of the sourdough perfectly compliments the buttermilk to create a soft and flavorful biscuit recipe.
sourdough biscuits stacked on cooling rack beside jar of starter
sourdough biscuits stacked on cooling rack beside jar of starter

I’m bringing you some biscuit today! These are a great biscuit to utilize some discard sourdough starter. These biscuits are a quick recipe that do not need to sit overnight.

Biscuits have always been a great easy addition to any meal, an afternoon snack, or anywhere in between. Whether you serve them in a sandwich, or layer them with butter and jam, its always a good time for a good biscuit!

Sourdough Biscuits

Let’s just get the elephant out of the room.

These biscuits are not super high and fluffy, ultra flakey Southern biscuits. Its just not who they are. But that doesn’t mean these aren’t worth making, because these old fashioned buttermilk sourdough biscuits are really good.

They have great sourdough flavor, a nice soft texture, and are a truly lovely biscuit. They use active sourdough starter for flavor but still get most of their leavening from baking soda and baking powder.

circle cooling rack with six sourdough biscuits on top

These biscuits are a great recipe for beginner sourdough bakers. In this recipe you need to use your sourdough discard. You feed your discard, and then wait for it to become active and bubbly before you use it in this recipe.

These biscuits are a great way to use sourdough discard! Other recipes that use sourdough starter discard are:

sourdough biscuits on counter, with two smeared with apple butter and jar in background

We’ve been making these biscuits a lot lately, and pretty much devour them immediately. All of them.

I thought the sourdough and the buttermilk together would be kind of ridiculous, but it pairs together amazingly.

They have a really nice tang to them, but are also buttery.

close up of sourdough biscuit with more on cooling rack behind it

How to make Buttermilk Sourdough Biscuits

These easy biscuits are simple to make, they just take a little bit of time. Make sure you scroll down for the complete recipe below – this is just an overview of the method you need to bake these.

  1. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
  2. In a large bowl, mix the buttermilk and starter together.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. 
  4. Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like cornmeal or sand.
  5. Mix in the starter mixture into the dry ingredients until it forms a soft dough.
  6. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for about 30 seconds (don’t over mix it!).
  7. Fold the dough over on itself into thirds (like an envelope) and gently pat out again until it is 1/2″ thick.
  8. Repeat folding the dough over onto itself in thirds and then pat out with your fingers until the dough is 1/2″ to 3/4″ thick again. This will help to create layers in the biscuits.
  9. Cut biscuits and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
  10. You can use your hands to gently bring any scraps together and repress to continue cutting out biscuits, but try not to overwork the dough. The more you handle the dough, the tougher your biscuits will be.
  11. Cover with a towel and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
  12. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
  13. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter.
  14. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.
collage of images showing steps to make sourdough biscuits

How to use your sourdough discard in this recipe

This recipe uses sourdough discard. You need to first feed the discard (learn more about feeding your sourdough starter) and wait for it to become active and bubbly.

To determine if your sourdough starter is fully active and ready to be used, you need to perform a float test.

sourdough buttermilk biscuits on cooling rack, with tea towel on counter and sunlight shining on them

How to perform a float test on your sourdough starter

A float test is the more sure fire way to know that your sourdough starter is ready to be used. After you have fed your discard and waited for it to become bubbly and doubled in size, it is time to do the float test.

  • Fill a glass with room temperature water.
  • Use a spoon (just one you eat with) and scoop out a small amount of sourdough starter – a small spoonful will do.
  • Drop the sourdough starter into the glass of water.
  • If the sourdough floats on the water, it is fully active and you may use it.
  • If the sourdough starter sinks in the water, either your starter is not quite ready yet (and you need to give it more time), or you missed your window and the starter is no longer active.

countertop showing tea towel and cooling rack with sourdough biscuits scattered on top

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sourdough biscuits stacked on cooling rack beside jar of starter

Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits

These easy sourdough biscuits are a perfect use of your sourdough discard. The slight tang of the sourdough perfectly compliments the buttermilk to create a soft and flavorful biscuit recipe.
4.72 from 7 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Additional Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 1 dozen
Calories: 192kcal
Author: Jenni

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ cup butter cubed and cold
  • 1 cup sourdough starter room temperature
  • ½ cup buttermilk room temperature
  • butter melted (for brushing on top)

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, mix together the buttermilk and starter together.
  • In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
  • Cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until it looks like cornmeal or sand.
  • Combine the buttermilk/starter into the dry ingredients and mix until a soft dough forms and it comes away from the side of the bowl. Do not overmix.
  • Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and carefully knead to ensure it is all mixed together, but do not over knead. Just two or three times is good.
  • Gently pat into dough out until it is 1/2" thick.
  • Fold the dough over on itself into thirds (like an envelope) and gently pat out again until it is 1/2" thick.
  • Repeat folding the dough over onto itself in thirds and then pat out with your fingers until the dough is 1/2" to 3/4" thick again. This will help to create layers in the biscuits.
  • Cut biscuits and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
  • You can use your hands to gently bring any scraps together and repress to continue cutting out biscuits, but try not to overwork the dough. The more you handle the dough, the tougher your biscuits will be.
  • Cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes (I have also successfully skipped this step several times and they turn out just fine - not as high as the rested ones, but they still have good layers and flavor).
  • Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter.
  • Preheat the oven to 425F.
  • Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the tops of the biscuits are golden brown.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 192kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 376mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g

(Food.com)


Sourdough Biscuits that are tender, delicious, and easy to make.

27 Comments

  1. Congratulations to you and your family on baby #2! Looking forward to your posts 🙂

  2. Congratulations!!!!! So happy for you! My youngest niece in BRazil is also pregnant, and just wrote me to say it's a boy, due in mid October… there you go, two new babies in the world!

    I wish you all the best, and look forward to whatever posts you want to write, even if it's just to say how many hours you were sitting in the sofa watching Food TV network… or cartoons 😉

    1. Oh my gosh, all I've been watching is tv centered around food! And now all I want is 5 star gourmet amazing food…and all I have the energy to make is boxed mac and cheese. LOL.

  3. Congratulations Jenni, and glad to see you back! The biscuits look amazing!

  4. Congrats! Your post gives me some hope. I'm 24 weeks and was very sick my first trimester. I was wondering if I'd ever get pregnant again, but we don't want an only child. Glad to know it's not a guarantee that I'll be sick with #2! Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy. Take care of yourself momma!

    1. It's definitely not a guarantee! Every pregnancy is totally different! 🙂

  5. procrastinatingbaker says:

    Congratulations! I am expecting #3 at the end of September :). I hope the rest of your pregnancy is much less eventful. Thanks also for the black bean brownie recipe – it was a big hit with my family.

  6. procrastinatingbaker says:

    Congratulations! I am expecting #3 at the end of September :). I hope the rest of your pregnancy is much less eventful. Thanks also for the black bean brownie recipe – it was a big hit with my family.

  7. procrastinatingbaker says:

    Congratulations! I am expecting #3 at the end of September :). I hope the rest of your pregnancy is much less eventful. Thanks also for the black bean brownie recipe – it was a big hit with my family.

    1. Oh, congrats! We are due pretty close together! 🙂 Glad you liked the brownies! They are yummy!

  8. Congrats!! My first Grand-daughter was born on March 29th, little Willow Lynn:) God bless to you and yours~Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines

  9. So that's why you've been missing… Congratulations and all the best to you, Jenni!

  10. Congratulations!! Glad to see you back, too – these biscuits look yummy!

  11. korenainthekitchen.com says:

    Huge congratulations Jenni! This is probably going to make me sound like a weirdo, but I was thinking about you this morning and randomly wondering if you were planning on having another kid… and then I log onto your blog and taa-daa! Craziness.

    1. Hahaha, Korena, I keep trying to tell you that we are the same! LOL

    2. korenainthekitchen.com says:

      LOL, only now you're two kids ahead of me… 😉

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