Follow our easy, step-by-step, instructions to learn how to make our Butter Biscuits. Made with butter instead of lard or shortening, that’s why we call them Butter Biscuits. Printable recipe included.
We hope you like the way we make these just as much as you like the biscuits themselves. Have you ever baked biscuits this way? We call them Butter biscuits because they are made with butter instead of lard or shortening.
Before we proceed, please understand this one thing – I will ALWAYS prefer my Mama’s Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe over any other biscuit recipe you might see here on Taste of Southern. It’s the way Mama made them and the way she taught me to make them. I will just always prefer hers the most.
Now, we can proceed.
This recipe is a combination of two things. First, I wanted to try making biscuits with butter instead of the lard that Mama always used to make her biscuits. Secondly, I was recently intrigued by this particular way of making biscuits. I grew up and still live in the South, but I’d never heard or seen biscuits baked all together like this.
Let me explain the process a bit more for you.
A young lady by the name of Erika Council, from down in Atlanta, Georgia, posted a photo of biscuits that showed up one day in my Twitter timeline. She wanted to know if this particular way of baking biscuits was a North Carolina type thing. One of her grandmothers baked biscuits this way. Erika says the adults were served the biscuits, and the kids ate the leftover pieces that remained. I was a bit intrigued. Smile.
I replied back that even though I have always lived in North Carolina, I’d never seen biscuits made this way. And, at the same time, I knew I had to try it the next time I made some biscuits here at Taste of Southern,
I’ve never met Erika, but I did get to meet one of her grandmothers on several occasions. Her grandmother was Mildred Council and had a restaurant in nearby Chapel Hill that I visited on occasion. She was often in the restaurant on my visits and I had spoken with her a couple of times. Sadly, she is no longer with us, but the restaurant is still thriving.
Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Mama Dips Kitchen Click the link to learn more and see some of her recipes.
So, I put my desire to try butter biscuits and my desire to try out this style of baking biscuits together and that’s how all of this came about. Thank you for listening. Smile.
I do hope you might try them as well. Even if you don’t cook them all together as pictured here, you’ll still enjoy the biscuits either way.
Ready to give our recipe a try? Alright then, let’s head on out to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Homemade Butter Biscuits – You’ll need these ingredients.
We’ll begin by sifting 2 1/2 cups of Self-Rising Flour into a large mixing bowl.
Next, grate the entire stick of butter. You’ll need really cold butter to begin with. You might even want to stick it in the freezer an hour or so before you make the biscuits. The colder the better and the easier it will be to grate.
Place the grated butter into the bowl with the flour.
Use a fork or spoon to “cut” the butter into the flour. This just means you’re going to work the butter into the flour until you have small pieces of butter about the size of a garden pea. Break up any larger chunks of butter with your fork or spoon. You could do this with your hands, but your body temperature will heat up the butter so I suggest you use a spoon or fork.
Some folks even place the flour and butter mixture back into the freezer for 15 minutes or so in order to let the butter firm back up. Personally, I’m not into doing all that but feel free to do so if you want too. Smile.
Make a well in the center of the flour, then pour in the cold buttermilk.
Grab a large wooden spoon and stir the flour and buttermilk together. Don’t overwork the dough, just stir it around until the dough starts to pull from the sides of the bowl. It’s going to be a bit wet, but that’s what we’re looking for.
Turn the dough out of the bowl onto your counter top.
I placed a sheet of parchment paper on mine, then lightly floured it. I also sprinkled a bit of flour on the dough ball. Turn and work the dough until it’s just slightly tacky to the touch. Add a bit of flour until you reach this point.
Rub some flour on your rolling pin, then gently roll the dough out into an oblong shape like this.
Fold the bottom half of the dough up to about the middle point of the oblong.
Fold the top half of the dough down over the bottom portion.
Turn the dough so the open end is facing you. Use your rolling pin to roll this out into an oblong once again. Then, REPEAT this process of folding, turning and rolling FOUR MORE TIMES. This will create layers in your biscuits.
Lightly butter the bottom of a sheet pan. Then, carefully place the rolled out portion of dough onto the pan. I used the parchment paper to transfer the dough to my sheet pan. It was a two hand process so I didn’t get a photo of that part. Sorry.
The dough should be about an inch thick. I rolled mine a bit thinner, about 3/4 of an inch thick. But, I suggest you don’t roll it out quite that thin. Smile.
Use your biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits out of the dough, but DON’T REMOVE them. Lightly flour your biscuit cutter and press it into the dough. Try not to twist the cutter, but be sure you’ve pressed it down good to the pan so that you fully cut out the shape of the biscuit. This will help you separate them easier once they are cooked.
The biscuits will rise some once they have been baked, but the thicker the dough to begin with the thicker the finished biscuit.
Pre-heat your oven to 475F degrees.
Place the biscuit pan in the oven and let them bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the tops of the biscuits have lightly browned.
When the biscuits are done, remove them from the oven. Place your sheet pan on a wire rack or folded towel to let the biscuits cool. If desired, brush the tops with some melted butter. I melted about 2 more Tablespoons of butter in a dish in the microwave and then brushed it over the tops,
Separate the biscuits from the sheet of dough while they are still warm. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
Mama always pinched off a portion of dough and rolled it out in her hands to make her biscuits. If she had a small piece of dough left over, she would roll it out long and thin and called it a “snake.” It was a special biscuit just for me. She would even sometimes roll out very small pieces of dough and make “eyes” on the snake.
