From scratch · Quick breads
Biscuits
Tall, flaky butter biscuits in about 30 minutes, in place of the refrigerated can.
✋ 15 min hands-on
⏱ 28 min start to finish
🍽 Eight 2½-inch biscuits.
ContainsWheat, Milk.
Ingredients
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 12 g baking powder
- 4½ g table salt
- 85 g butter, salted, very cold, cut in small cubes
- ¾ cup whole milk, cold
Time
Hands-on time is when you’re busy; the rest is rising, simmering, chilling or cooling, when you can do something else.
| Step | Hands-on | Waiting |
|---|---|---|
| Mix, fold and cut the biscuits | 15 min | – |
| Bake at 450°F | – | 13 min |
| In all | 15 min | 13 min |
How long it keeps
- Counter: best warm; in a bag, about 2 days.
- Freezer: bake them first, cool, and freeze up to 2 to 3 months; frozen unbaked biscuits come out smaller and less tender (University of Missouri).
Nutrition
Estimated from the ingredients’ USDA FoodData Central numbers.
Steps
You’ll need: bowl, pastry blender or two knives, 2½-inch biscuit cutter or a glass, baking sheet.
- Heat the oven to 450°F. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- Cut in the cold butter with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the biggest pieces are the size of peas.
- Stir in the cold milk with a fork just until the dough comes together; it should look shaggy.
- Turn it out on a floured counter, pat it 1 inch thick, fold it in half, and pat it out again. Do this 3 times for flaky layers, ending 1 inch thick.
- Cut straight down with a floured cutter (don’t twist) and set the biscuits touching on the baking sheet. Press the scraps together once for the last biscuits.
- Bake 12 to 14 minutes, until tall and golden.
⚖️ ScalingEverything scales with the flour: 12 g (1 tablespoon) baking powder for every 250 g flour. Cold butter and a hot oven matter more than exact batch size.
🛡 SafetyDon’t taste raw dough or batter, and wash your hands and the counter after handling flour: raw flour can carry germs that only baking kills (FDA).
Good to knowButtermilk biscuits: use ¾ cup buttermilk instead of milk and add ¼ teaspoon baking soda to the flour.
Sources
- How to Freeze Home-Prepared Foods (GH1505), University of Missouri Extension. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed 2026-10-25.