Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits

The very first post I wrote for this blog was my step by step guide to baking better biscuits, and today I have another biscuit recipe to share with you.  I know, I know. Two biscuit recipes in less than a month?  But trust me, you should try them both! Today’s biscuits are easy buttermilk drop biscuits, so no rolling or cutting out dough, there is no shortening, and this recipe uses cake flour to produce light, flaky biscuits.  You’re going to love them!

 

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Story Time…

 

I actually meant to make these biscuits like a week ago, but we’ve been fighting illnesses and then I had to go and use up my baking powder and cake flour when I made my Black Magic Cake.  Silly me. But finally, I had all the ingredients and the energy to make breakfast for dinner.  Brinner, I believe.

Breakfast, brunch, and brinner.  That’s how I like my meals. I’m a HUGE fan of breakfast foods and will gladly eat them all day, everyday.  In fact, my bro-in-law used to tease me because, whenever possible, you’ll find me ordering off the breakfast menu, doesn’t matter the time of day.  

 

 

But These Easy Buttermilk Drop Biscuits…

 

What I love about this recipe is the use of cake flour.  In my biscuit guide, I mention that it is important not to work the dough too much because you’ll develop gluten.  Well, cake flour has a lower protein content than AP or bread flour. This equals less gluten development! You can absolutely use all AP flour, but you’ll need a smidge more liquid and you’ll need to be extra gentle.

If you’re curious about common baking ingredients, you should snag a copy of my Ingredient Glossary in the Bakes & Blunders Resource Library.  Understanding the difference between the types of flour, raising agents, sugar, etc. is going to take your baking to the next level!  In this recipe, the choice of flour, raising agent, and milk all play important roles to create soft, fluffy biscuits.

 

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Butter Blunders

 

I am a bit of a doof sometimes, just FYI.  So, I accidentally bought salted butter (rebate in Ibotta and I didn’t pay attention) when I was prepping for Ben’s Kryptonite Cake and that’s a no go.  You will almost always use unsalted butter when baking so that you can control the salinity of your bakes.  There are a few exemptions, and I love a salty, buttery, flaky biscuit.

This time, my whoops turned out to be useful.  I used this fancy salted butter to make these easy buttermilk drop biscuits and cut the added salt from the original recipe.  As soon as the drop biscuits came out of the oven, I brushed the tops with more melted butter. Yum!  The original recipe is from one of my food bibles, The New Best Recipe cookbook.  It’s amazing and I love it.

 

 

Blundering Around…

 

Colleen strikes again!  I popped these biscuits in the oven and told Josh I was disappointed in them and I wasn’t going to post the recipe.  But I remembered that this is Bakes AND Blunders.  Oh Em Gee, these easy buttermilk drop biscuits were crazy good, but silly me thought I messed up.  Apparently I can’t divide dough and got 11 uneven biscuits instead of 12 perfectly proportioned beauties.  I was afraid they wouldn’t bake evenly. Surprisingly, they all baked perfectly!

So, I tried to divide the dough using a scale.  The idea being that I would have perfectly equal biscuits.  Well, you can’t work biscuit dough too much or it will become tough and chewy.  This means that it is not easy to press the chunks together as you portion out your biscuits.  It really is best to use a bench scraper or sharp knife to divide the dough up.

 

Related Reading: Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits

 

Shaping the Dough

 

This dough is pretty darn sticky, so I wouldn’t recommend rolling it out.  Be sure to have a well floured surface, but don’t add too much flour.  That wet dough is going to turn into incredibly tender and soft biscuits if we treat it right!  And how you shape these guys is important because we don’t want to end up with tough biscuits.

Pat the dough into a circle on a floured surface.  Use a bench scraper or a long, sharp knife to cut the dough into quarters.  That’s the easy part.  Now we’re going to divide each quarter into 3 equal portions.  I thought they looks kinda small, but it all worked out.  Take each portion and gently roll it into a ball and place on your baking sheet.  Drop biscuits are beautifully imperfect, so don’t sweat it if they look wonky.

 

Enjoy!

 

By using the food processor, you can whip these biscuits up in no time!  Enjoy them as a side, with brinner (breakfast, or brunch too!), or completely on their own with some butter and honey.  I love the rustic look and that there is no wasted dough like you might find from a standard biscuit recipe. Follow me on Pinterest and comment below to let me know how these worked out for you!

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