I love sourdough biscuits. This weeks Sourdough September post is one of my favorite things to make, besides bread, with sourdough starter. I love how the tang of a good and sour starter gives biscuits a tang. Sourdough biscuits are incredibly easy to make, and if you have an active starter, this is something you can do with the starter you would generally discard. Or you can pull some out of the jar if you just want to make a batch of these buttery flakey tender sourdough biscuits anytime.
One thing I always seem to run into when I want to make biscuits at home is that I usually need buttermilk. I typically have to run to the store since I don’t normally have that on hand. This is an excellent solution if you are a sourdough baker. Using the sourdough starter instead of buttermilk still has enough acid to react with the baking soda and makes a very light biscuit.
All you need is one cup of your starter, you don’t have to feed it or even bring it to room temperature just use it straight out of the jar. In fact, it won’t be nearly as tangy if you use a freshly fed starter. You want to let some of the acid to build-up to help with the baking soda.
I used to struggle to make biscuits, I never seemed to get enough flakey layers. I just always seemed to overwork the dough. So I am giving one big piece of advice; do not over blend the butter, there should be peas sized pieces still visible. The butter needs to be in chunks to spread out and to make all those flakey layers of goodness.
If you have an active starter, make some of these sourdough biscuits for your family. They really are quick and easy to make. And no running out to the store for some buttermilk or GASP a tube of biscuits in a can. You can make these quicker than it takes to get to the store. Let me know in the comments if you make these and how tasty they are.
- 1 cup flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 6 tablespoons very cold salted butter cut in small pieces
- 1 cup unfed sourdough starter
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
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Preheat oven to 425°
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Sift or whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
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Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or a knife and fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with pieces of butter about the size of peas. This is important there should still be pea-sized pieces of butter, do not over blend.
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Add the sourdough starter and mix with a fork until most of the flour is incorporated. Knead the mixture in the bowl a few times until it comes together. Also, be gentle try and only get it to come together, trying not to over mix the dough.
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Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface then roll or pat the dough out to about 3/4" thick.
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Using a 3 inch round biscuit cutter or a glass. Cut as many biscuits as you can, gather scraps, re-roll or pat out and cut out one or two more. If you are careful, you will end up with 8 total.
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Place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet. Place them close together, touching, if you want soft-sided biscuits or space them apart for crisper sides.
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Brush with the melted butter.
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Bake for 15-18 minutes, until you can see browning around the edges. If you placed biscuits close together, they would take longer than if they are spaced apart.
Serve hot with butter, jam or honey.
