Food Cooking Tips & Techniques Baking How to Bake Fluffy Homemade Biscuits With Only 6 Ingredients When all you want to do is comfort bake, these tricks will take your skills to the next level. By Jenna Helwig Jenna Helwig Jenna is the food director at Real Simple and the author of Bare Minimum Dinners, a cookbook featuring more than 100 low-lift, high-reward recipes. Previously, Jenna was the food director at Health and Parents. She is also the founder and operator of Rosaberry, a boutique personal chef services company, and the author of four other cookbooks, including the bestselling Baby-Led Feeding. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Updated on March 10, 2023 Close Biscuits are a community thing—they bring people together for breakfast, brunch with friends, weddings, holidays, and beyond. And despite what many people still believe, they are incredibly forgiving, even for the most novice home cooks. Homemade biscuits can be as simple as three ingredients—flour, buttermilk, salt—or loaded with cheese, vegetables, chocolate, or fruit. We asked expert bakers to share their top homemade biscuit tips that will make you feel good about making them repeatedly. Before trying this simple biscuit recipe, review the additional information and tricks. No matter your biscuit preference—tall, tiny, flaky, crispy, or even square—we'll help you reach your desired result. Homemade Biscuit Recipe What You Need: 2½ cups of all-purpose flour1½ teaspoons of baking powder1 teaspoon of kosher salt¼ teaspoon of baking soda¾ cup (1½ sticks) of cold unsalted butter¾ cup cold buttermilk Step 1: Combine Dry Ingredients Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Step 2: Add Butter and Buttermilk Add butter, and cut into pats. Work the butter in with your hands until the flour is crumbly. Stir in buttermilk. Step 3: Roll, Stamp, and Shape For the best homemade biscuits, fold the dough on a work surface until it just comes together, then shape or roll it into a rectangle. Stamp out 8 biscuits or cut them into squares. Brush biscuits with a beaten egg, if desired. Step 4: Bake Bake at 375 F until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Tips for Making Homemade Biscuits 01 of 05 Mix With Your Hands After combining the flour and other dry ingredients, it's time to add the fat. Start with cold butter—the colder the butter, the flakier the biscuit—cut into pats, not cubes, says Martin Philip, a baker at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, Vt., and the author of Breaking Bread ($33; amazon.com). "Using your hands, quickly smoosh the butter into the flour mixture, making flat leaves. This helps keep the butter pieces larger, almost like for a piecrust, which makes the biscuit flakier." 02 of 05 Pat, Fold, and Roll the Dough You can simply roll out biscuit dough, but for extra flakiness, pat out the dough and fold it over on itself twice, like a letter. "This little trick will give the biscuits a head start on forming layers," Philip says. While some bakers suggest using a drinking glass to cut biscuits, Carrie Morey, owner of Callie's Biscuits in Charleston, S.C., recommends a sharp biscuit cutter. "Don't twist and turn—just cut and lift." 03 of 05 Bake In a Completely Preheated Oven Make sure your oven is fully preheated before sliding in the baking sheet—a hot oven with cold butter or shortening creates biscuit magic. The sudden blast of heat triggers the initial rise and puffiness. As for removing the biscuits from the oven, "don't take them out too soon," Philip cautions. "The more golden they get on top, the more flavor they'll have." Use the timing in the recipe as a guide, but trust your eyes. 04 of 05 Make Ahead and Freeze A biscuit hot from the oven is magical; a day-old biscuit is barely worth eating. But, Morey says, biscuits freeze well. "They can be reheated straight from the freezer, wrapped in foil, at 350 F for about a half hour." 05 of 05 Occasionally Swap for Shortcake Biscuits and shortcakes are close cousins, so if you ask three bakers the difference between them, you'll likely get three different answers! That said, biscuits are usually made with buttermilk, while shortcakes use whole milk or cream for richness and often contain sugar. In summer, Philip is partial to classic strawberry shortcakes. Out of season, he fills them with frozen blueberries sautéed with butter and brown sugar. "Chill before assembling with freshly whipped cream," he says. Perfectly ripe peaches and blackberries are also delicious fillings. 5 Mistakes You're Making With Your Biscuits Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit