These sourdough buttermilk biscuits are my favorite twist on a southern classic! They're tender and buttery on the inside with a slightly crispy exterior and hundreds of perfectly flaky layers! They're delicious spread with butter and jam, or smothered in homemade sausage gravy!
You might also like these sourdough discard bagels or these sourdough discard crepes!
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Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make the flakiest sourdough buttermilk biscuits!
Pastry Flour - I always use pastry flour or cake flour when making biscuits so that they have a super light, tender texture. However, all purpose flour will still work great if that's all you have!
Sourdough Starter - I typically use leftover sourdough discard to make these biscuits because I always need to use up extra discard, but ripe sourdough starter works just as well! This recipe uses baking powder to rise, so the sourdough is just for that tangy flavor.
Buttermilk - If you don't have buttermilk you can make your own "buttermilk" by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to every 1 cup of whole milk!
Butter - I like using frozen grated butter for the flakiest sourdough buttermilk biscuits!
Sugar - I know these are savory biscuits, but just a little bit of sugar is still necessary for the best flavor.
Flaky Sea Salt - I always had flaky sea salt to the tops of these sourdough discard biscuits for both flavor and looks! I love using Maldon Flaky Sea Salt because it has the best flavor and texture.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Sourdough Discard Biscuits
Place the butter in the freezer for at least 20-30 minutes before grating. Use a box grater to carefully grate the butter into small pieces. Keep the grated butter in the freezer until you're ready to use it.
If you don't want to use grated butter, just cut the butter into small chunks and keep chilled until ready to use.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
Add in the frozen grated butter and toss gently in until it's fully coated in the flour.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sourdough discard and buttermilk.
Then slowly drizzle the wet ingredients over top, combining as you go. Knead a few times in the bowl until you have a very dry, shaggy dough.
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and gently pat the dough into a large 1 inch thick square.
Using a bench knife, cut the dough into 4 equal squares and then stack them on top of each other, making sure to sandwich any loose dry bits of dough between the layers.
Then flatten the stack of dough back into a large 1 inch thick rectangle. [This method of cutting and stacking the dough is what helps give the biscuits those super flaky layers!]
Use 2 ½ inch round biscuit cutters to cut out the biscuits, then reshape the dough scraps to cut out more biscuits. You should get 10-12 biscuits.
Transfer the biscuits to a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking.
Tip: Place the biscuits close together on the baking sheet so that the sides are nearly touching. This helps them rise even higher!
While the sourdough biscuits are freezing, preheat the oven to 425°F.
Remove the biscuits from the freezer and lightly brush the tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Bake at 425°F for 18-22 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and enjoy the flaky sourdough buttermilk biscuits while warm!
Tips for Flaky Pastries
Use cold ingredients! For most baked goods you want to use room temperature ingredients, but for flaky pastries (like scones, biscuits, or pie crust) the ingredients need to be very cold! Keep any butter, eggs, milk, etc. in the fridge until right before you need to use them!
Chill before baking! Chilling the dough for at least 15-20 minutes before baking helps ensure the butter in the dough is nice and cold and helps the pastries hold their shape. Cold dough + hot oven = perfect flaky pastry!
Don't overwork the dough! You want to mix the ingredients until just combined so that there are still distinct pieces of butter in the dough. This is what gives you those buttery, flaky, air pockets!
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping certain baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature. Some ovens also take longer than the standard "preheat" time to actually come up to the proper temperature.
Recipe FAQ's
These sourdough buttermilk biscuits are best eaten the same day, but they'll keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also reheat biscuits in the oven at 350°F for 5-10 minutes.
Yes! After cutting the dough into circles, place on a baking sheet and flash freeze them for 1 hour. Once firm, transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months (I love using vacuum seal bags for this). Brush with cream and sprinkle with flaky salt before baking. You may need to increase the baking time to 22-25 minutes.
Yes! To make sweet sourdough biscuits, increase the sugar in the dough to 2 tablespoons and reduce the salt to ½ teaspoon. After brushing the biscuits with cream sprinkle with sugar instead of flaky sea salt! You can also brush them with a little bit of melted honey butter after baking.
I love keeping things simple by eating sourdough biscuits with butter, honey, jam, or apple butter. But they're also delicious with eggs and bacon or smothered in gravy!
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups pastry flour, substitute all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, frozen
- 1 cup sourdough starter discard
- ½ cup buttermilk, substitute whole milk + 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- flaky sea salt, for topping
Instructions
- Place the butter in the freezer for at least 20-30 minutes before grating. Use a box grater to carefully grate the butter into small pieces. Keep the grated butter in the freezer until you're ready to use it. If you don't want to use grated butter, just cut the butter into small chunks and keep chilled until ready to use.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Add in the frozen grated butter and toss gently in until it's fully coated in the flour.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sourdough discard and buttermilk.
- Then slowly drizzle the wet ingredients over top, combining as you go. Knead a few times in the bowl until you have a very dry, shaggy dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and gently pat the dough into a large 1 inch thick square.
- Using a bench knife, cut the dough into 4 equal squares and then stack them on top of each other, making sure to sandwich any loose dry bits of dough between the layers.
- Then flatten the stack of dough back into a large 1 inch thick rectangle. [This method of cutting and stacking the dough is what helps give the biscuits those super flaky layers!]
- Use 2 ½ inch round biscuit cutters to cut out the biscuits, then reshape the dough scraps to cut out more biscuits. You should get 10-12 biscuits.
- Transfer the biscuits to a parchment lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking. Tip: Place the biscuits close together on the baking sheet so that the sides are nearly touching. This helps them rise even higher!
- While the sourdough biscuits are freezing, preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Remove the biscuits from the freezer and lightly brush the tops with buttermilk and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
- Bake at 425°F for 18-22 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and enjoy the flaky sourdough buttermilk biscuits while warm!
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Kiwi says
My biscuits turned out super tasty, but super flat! I followed the directions to the T. I did use a KitchenAid to mix the dough so not sure if that may have overmixed it. I stopped mixing as soon as the dough came together. I cut and stacked the dough only one time. I'm not sure if it was the KitchenAid or the fact I only stacked them once (not sure if I misread the instructions). Any advice would be helpful because the flavor is amazing, just need to get a better rise!
Kyleigh Sage says
Yeah unfortunately using a mixer will overmix the dough and cause them not to rise as much. You want the dough to be just barely mixed together (this allows bigger pieces of butter throughout the dough which will melt and create air pockets that help them rise and be super flaky). Once stacked, just gently press until the dough is 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick and cut out the biscuits!
Carol C says
I made this recipe to go with bbq pulled pork. Wow! the biscuits came out great. I didn't use a biscuit cutter, instead, I cut them into squares (ish) and I made 9 biscuits because I wanted to use them to sandwich the pulled pork. I baked them for about 7 minutes longer than the recipe called for. They worked perfectly and loved the taste. The only reason I found this recipe is that I had buttermilk in my fridge and didn't know what to do with it. This was easy to make and in another league than supermarket biscuits.
Maddie says
These came out so good! Pretty easy!
Ysabel Hudson says
I swear when I was making them I started getting mad (nothing unusual in me since I have been grumpy most of my life…terrible flaw), but when I put the crumbly dough on the kitchen counter to finish and shape them, I got the most wonderful biscuits with sourdough discard.
Michelle says
Another amazing recipe! So flaky and delicious.
Addie says
This video was super helpful in making this recipe! So yummy!
Jeri says
These tasted so good, and were so easy to make! We had them with a pot of chicken stew last night. Thanks for the recipe!
Michelle / Taste As You Go says
Love this recipe because it gives me a way to use up my sourdough starter discard. No waste with this! Plus, the biscuits are crazy good.
Debra says
Another great use of my sourdough starter....these were awesome.
William Wagner says
These were SO good! I topped with a sausage gravy and had them for breakfast. Thanks for the recipe!
Faith Still says
These look so good! I have a jar of sourdough starter in my fridge that I have forgotten about for awhile. I know very little about sourdough. A friend gave it to me and I was tending to it regularly and baking with it, but then just forgot about it. It wasn't my favorite because I had to feed it potato flakes. Do you have a good starter recipe? Also, the marble board is a game changer. I got one for Christmas and love it for making pie crusts and of course food photography.
Laura says
Best biscuits I've ever made! A perfect way to use up my sourdough discard. A go-to recipe now!
Molly P. says
I never would have thought to add sourdough to biscuits! So good!