Easy Biscuit Recipe without Baking Powder or Egg
This recipe is so simple, yet delicious. These biscuits come together in minutes and require only a few basic ingredients, while omitting baking powder and egg. Enjoy these flaky-layered bites of goodness!
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl, Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups buttermilk
- 6 cups self-rising flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat a 475 °F oven and slice butter into thin slices. Put the butter in the freezer.
- Sift flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
- Once chilled, add the butter into the flour mixture and cut it in with a pastry cutter or fork. It should resemble coarse crumbs when it’s ready.
- Add the buttermilk to the dry ingredients and mix it with a wooden spoon until just combined.
- Turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead it 10 times, or until it creates a soft dough.
- Roll biscuit dough out, using your fingers or a rolling pin until 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut biscuits with a 2 inch biscuit cutter.
- Place on a parchment lined baking sheet to where their edges are barely touching.
- Brush buttermilk onto the tops of the biscuits (this is optional).
- Bake 10-12 minutes (longer if you have larger biscuits). The tops should be golden brown.
- Brush with melted butter (this is optional).
Notes
Cutting in Butter- One of my favorite tricks if I have to cut in a lot of butter is to use a food processor and let it do the heavy lifting for me. I will chill my sticks in the freezer for 15 minutes and use the “cheese” grater attachment on my processor to grate my cheese. If you don’t have a food processor, a regular box grater will work great, too! It makes cutting in the butter a breeze!
Place Biscuits Close- You don’t want the biscuits squished, but placing them on the cookie sheet to where they are barely touching helps them to grow tall and not spread out. It also keeps them moist as they bake!
No Salted Butter- If you don’t have salted butter, simply use unsalted butter and add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to this recipe. That means you will need 1 1/2 tsp salt, instead of just the 1 tsp. Simple fix!
No Self-Rising Flour- This recipe calls for self-rising flour, which eliminates the need for baking powder. If you don't have this type of flour and you can't wait to run to the grocery store to whip these fluffy biscuits up, combine 2 tsp baking powder for every cup of all purpose flour. You would need 12 tsp baking powder to make these perfect biscuits.
Don't Overwork the Dough- Knead the dough on the counter until the tackiness is just gone from the dough. You want to be able to roll them out without them sticking to the surface or rolling pin, but don't overwork it. Overworking the dough leads to a crumbly dough and stiff biscuits.
No Biscuit Cutter- If this is your first time baking biscuits and you don't have a biscuit cutter, grab a glass or mason jar lid and cut them with that.