Homemade Biscuits from Scratch

Warm, soft, buttery & flaky biscuits are a classic for a reason. Whether you spread them with butter, top them with strawberry jam, or indulge in biscuits and gravy, you can’t go wrong with this from scratch recipe!

It’s made using staple pantry ingredients, so these biscuits are quick and easy to whip up. Enjoy them hot and fresh out of the oven or use them on a fried chicken sandwich!

Easy Homemade Biscuit Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional*)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into ½ in. cubes
• ¾ cup milk, plus more for brushing

​

*If you’re planning to serve the biscuits as a dessert (or with jam or something sweet), use the sugar. It will add just a little hint of sweetness to your biscuit dough. If you’re serving the biscuits with something savory, such as gravy, omit it for that classic biscuit taste.

Step 1:  Preheat your oven to 450°F.

Step 2: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar (if using), baking powder and salt. Using a fork or whisk, mix dry ingredients until combined.

Step 3: Using a pastry cutter, or two forks, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

The coarser the size of the ‘crumbs’, the flakier your biscuits will be. If the butter pieces are small and fine, your biscuits might turn out chewy and have less flaky layers.

Step 4: Add milk to the flour.

Stir to form a shaggy dough. Be careful not to overmix, as you don’t want to develop too much gluten. Just a simple stir to make sure most of the flour is wet. Don’t worry, it will look worse before it looks better!

Step 5: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it 3 to 4 times, or until the dough just comes together.

If you work the dough too much, you’ll overdevelop gluten and your biscuits will come out tough. Less is more when it comes to kneading biscuit dough. You just want it to hold together so you can roll it out with a rolling pin.

Step 6: Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about a ¾ in. thickness.

Make sure to lightly flour your rolling pin if your biscuit dough is sticky.

Step 7: Cut the dough using a 2 in. round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, then place onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Dough scraps can be rerolled once, but rerolling any more than that might result in tough biscuits, so cut out your circles as close together as you can to get the best use of your dough.

Don’t have a cutter on hand? You can use the rim of a drinking glass or cut the dough into squares or rectangles with a knife.

Step 8: Once all your biscuits have been cut out, lightly brush the tops with milk.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the biscuits are lightly golden brown.

How to measure flour

While it may be tempting to just scoop and drop the flour into your bowl, this could result in you actually adding too much flour, causing your biscuits to be dry and crumbly.

The best way to measure flour is to use a spoon to sprinkle the flour into a measuring cup, then leveling off the excess with a flat spatula or knife.

Why are my biscuits hard?

If your biscuits come out hard and crumbly, it’s most likely because the dough was overworked during the kneading process. To prevent that, mix your dough just until it comes together. You should still see bits of butter in your dough.

How to make flaky biscuits

The key to a delicious, flaky biscuit is all in the kneading process. It’s important not to overwork the dough. Mix it just until it holds together.

Also make sure your butter is cold when you incorporate it into the flour. If you’re using melted butter or even room temperature butter, your biscuits will not bake correctly.

Why are my biscuits dry and crumbly?

Dry and crumbly biscuits are often caused by adding too much flour. Remember, don’t scoop and drop your flour – use a spoon to sprinkle the flour into the measuring cup, then level it off with a spatula.

You can always sprinkle your dough with additional flour if it’s too sticky, but you can’t take the flour away if you’ve added too much!

Can I make biscuits with baking soda?

Since baking soda needs both a liquid and an acidic ingredient in order to activate, it will not work as a replacement for baking powder in this recipe. Baking powder contains baking soda and an acid, so it only needs a liquid to work, making it perfect for these biscuits!

How to store biscuits

Biscuits are best served warm and fresh out of the oven, but you can certainly store leftovers covered, at room temperature, for 1 to 2 days. If covered and stored in the fridge, they’ll keep for about a week.

How do you like your biscuits? Do you turn it into a homemade breakfast sandwich or enjoy it with peanut butter and bananas? Or maybe you keep it simple with butter and raspberry jam.

Regardless, we’d love to see how you’ve put this recipe to use! Share a picture of your biscuit-baking adventures on Instagram and tag us @wiltoncakes.

Looking for more cooking and baking inspiration? Check out these blog posts!

How To Make Homemade Bread From Scratch 

Common Substitutes for Baking and Cooking

How to Bake Cookies- A Step by Step Guide to Perfect Cookies

How to Make Homemade Banana Bread

How to Make Homemade Sprinkles