Tall, golden biscuits with crisp edges and tender, fluffy, buttery center – these sourdough biscuits are surprisingly simple to make. This recipe is one of the best ways to use up that jar of sourdough discard sitting in your fridge. Both the discard and buttermilk add just a hint of tang while keeping the biscuits incredibly moist and tender.
I love these about 10 minutes out of the oven, still warm with a pat of butter and a drizzle of honey or a smear of jam. My husband made sausage gravy to serve with them – so good! And don’t forget, they’re perfect for breakfast sandwiches or paired with soup for dinner. These fluffy biscuits are so versatile, I know you’ll love them.
Ingredients for sourdough biscuits
You’ll need just 8 ingredients, pictured below, for this recipe. If you want to skip ahead, the complete list of ingredients with quantities is in the recipe card at the end of this post, as always.
Notes on key ingredients
- Ideally, buttermilk, starter discard and butter should all be cold.
- I use 100% hydration sourdough starter discard in this recipe as well as in all my sourdough discard recipes. You can definitely use ripe sourdough starter instead of discard for these biscuits.
- Even if you use ripe sourdough starter, it will not contribute to raising these biscuits. What helps them rise are the chemical leaveners – baking powder and baking soda.
- You can substitute buttermilk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice plus enough regular whole milk to make ¾ cup (or 177 grams), stir together and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Or you can use half whole milk and half sour cream or yogurt mixed together.
- I use both salt and sugar in the dough, but the flavor is fairly neutral. If you want it sweeter, double the amount of sugar or more. And if you want it to lean more savory, you can either increase the amount of salt in the dough or use flake sea salt to top the biscuits before baking instead of granulated sugar.
Make sourdough discard biscuits with me!
Follow along visually as we make this sourdough biscuits recipe if you love seeing each step in photos. Otherwise, you can skip ahead, detailed written instructions are in the recipe card below.
1. Cut butter into flour
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and incorporate cold butter with a pastry blender or by pressing it into the flour with the tips of your fingers.
2. Form the dough
Whisk together discard and buttermilk, pour the mixture into a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Fold with a spatula to form a shaggy dough. Cover and rest in the fridge for about 10-15 mins.
3. First roll and fold
Roll out the dough and fold in thirds, like a letter. Use your bench scraper to help you lift the dough from the surface.
4. Second fold
Turn the dough 90 degrees, roll out and fold in thirds again. Feel free to do this once or twice more.
5. Cut dough into 8 biscuits
Turn the dough 90 degrees, roll out to about 1″ thick and cut into 8 biscuits using the bench scraper by pressing it straight down.
6. Bake biscuits
Brush biscuits with buttermilk, sprinkle granulated sugar on top and bake until golden.
Baker’s tips
- Let it hydrate! You will notice that the recipe calls for resting the dough in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes after mixing. If you start working on this dough right away, it will be quite wet and sticky. I find that resting the dough helps make it easier to work with, and you will only need very minimal flour for dusting, maybe about 2 tablespoons of extra flour while rolling and shaping.
- Fold those layers! Similar to making croissants or puff pastry, and even sourdough pie crust and sourdough scones, folding the dough over itself creates layers, making the biscuits “flaky” when baked. The more times you fold, the more layers you’ll create. I recommend folding this dough at least twice. But if you don’t want to bother, you will still get delicious biscuits out of this.
- Smell your discard 😆 These biscuits take on the flavor of the discard without any other flavors to overpower it, compared to these sourdough matcha cookies for example. You really have to be mindful of the state of your discard, if it is too old, too pungent, too acidic, it may not yield very pleasant tasting biscuits. So definitely take a whiff of your discard before adding it to the batter or simply use fresh starter! Of course, this goes for all your sourdough discard recipes but especially so with these biscuits, as well as simple scones, and shortbread cookies.
Sourdough Biscuits Recipe
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Bench Scraper
- Rolling Pin
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 270 grams (2 cup) all-purpose flour about 2 cups or more
- 3 grams (½ teaspoon) kosher salt
- 13 grams (1 tablespoon) granulated sugar
- 2 grams (¼ teaspoon) baking soda
- 12 grams (1 tablespoon) baking powder
- 113 grams (4 oz) unsalted butter cold
- 177 grams (¾ cup) buttermilk cold
- 120 grams (½ cup) sourdough starter discard or ripe, 100% hydration, cold, ~½ cup
- Extra buttermilk for brushing
- Extra granulated sugar for topping or sea salt for more savory biscuits
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a baking sheet with parchment or silicone liner.
- Prepare dry ingredients – Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder into a large mixing bowl, add kosher salt and sugar, whisk to combine.270 grams all-purpose flour, 3 grams kosher salt, 2 grams baking soda, 12 grams baking powder, 13 grams granulated sugar
- Cut in the butter – Add cold cubed butter to the flour mixture, work the butter into the flour with your fingertips or a pastry blender until all the butter pieces are about pea and lima bean size.113 grams unsalted butter
- Prepare wet ingredients – Add cold buttermilk and cold sourdough discard to a small vessel, whisk to combine.177 grams buttermilk, 120 grams sourdough starter
- Make the dough – Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture. Fold with a spatula or wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and rest in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the dough to hydrate.
- Roll and fold the dough – Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured board or countertop, and roll out into a rectangle about ½” thick. Fold the dough in thirds, like folding a letter. Rotate 90 degrees, roll it out again and fold in thirds, at least one more time. Finally, shape the dough into a rectangle about 1” thick. Cut into 8 portions.
- Bake the biscuits – Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet, about 1” apart, brush the top with extra buttermilk, and sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.Extra buttermilk for brushing, Extra granulated sugar for topping
- Cool – Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet 5 – 10 minutes before transferring the biscuits to a wire rack to cool completely. Best served warm.
Notes
- These will keep at room temperature for a few days. You can also freeze them for 3 to 6 months for long term storage.
- Reheat in the toaster oven or in the regular oven at 325°F-350°F for 5 – 7 minutes. My toaster oven/air fryer tends to run hot so I always use the lower temperature setting.
- If you’re using ripe starter, room temp is okay.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
