Southern Buttermilk Biscuits with Self-Rising Flour

These are the best southern buttermilk biscuits with self-rising flour around! They are tender and are and full of butter and buttermilk flavor, no bland biscuits here! 

This recipe uses a few key high-quality ingredients to make the best biscuits you've ever had!

Why you will love this recipe:

This recipe uses low protein soft wheat flour with all the rising agents and salt mixed, aka White Lily self-rising flour! This flour makes an incredibly tender and light crumb that makes perfect southern biscuits, and honey also gives these biscuits a bit of depth and sweetness. 

These are the ideal standard southern biscuits; if you are looking for something easier but still tasty, try these three ingredient biscuits. Or, for a very traditional old-school recipe, try these cat head biscuits that use a mix of butter and shortening. 

About this recipe: 

• Taste - Buttery and a slight deep sweetness from the honey.
• Texture - fluffy, tender, and a little crumbly. They still hold together in your hand and keep their shape while eating.
• Effort - Easy, one bowl, and just a few simple steps!
• Time - about 30 minutes from start to finish!

Key Ingredients:

Self Rising Flour: a low-protein self-rising flour like White Lily or Weisenberger Mills makes these biscuits rise and makes them incredibly tender. White Lily and Weisenberger Mills flour are more similar to pastry flour than regular all-purpose flour because of their low protein content. This kind of flour makes a lighter crumb, which is very beneficial for biscuits. Self-rising flour is beneficial too because it already has rising agents and salt blended into the flour. 

Buttermilk: Buttermilk is also key to a good biscuit. Buttermilk contains acid, which, when combined with the baking powder, helps the dough to rise. Buttermilk also helps to keep the dough tender and soft. 

Butter: Butter is the fat that provides richness and flavor to the biscuits. Using high-fat flavorful butter is key; my favorite is Kerry Gold. The butter flavor really shines through and is what gives these biscuits most of their taste, so if you were ever going to splurge on good butter, this is the time.  

Honey: honey has more flavor depth than sugar's simple sweetness. Here honey works with the butter to provide a deep and slightly sweet biscuit. Honey also provides a little structure; these biscuits are crumbly but not too crumbly. 

Not all flour is created equal: 

There is a reason that southern bakers swear by White Lily flour. It's made with soft winter wheat flour, which is a low protein and low gluten flour. Every brand of flour has a different protein content; some use soft or hard wheat or spring or winter wheat. Most grocery store brands like King Arthur, Gold Medal, and Pillsbury use a mixture of soft and hard wheat. 

For fluffy and tender ideal biscuits, you and looking for soft winter wheat. And You can usually tell the type of wheat in flour by its protein content; for example, White Lily is just 9% protein, and King Arthur is 11%. 

When making biscuits, do your best to find flour at 9% protein; if you can't find self-rising flour with low protein, use pastry flour instead (which is usually about 8% protein) and add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon of salt for each cup of flour.

Step-by-step instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees 
• Cut the butter into the flour.
• Add in the buttermilk and honey and mix until a dough forms.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly dusted surface.
• Roll and fold the dough.
• Cut out your biscuits and place them right next to each other on a lined baking sheet.
• Brush with melted butter. 
• Bake for 13-15 minutes.
• Brush with more melted butter. 

Tips for success!!

• Use very cold butter and buttermilk. 
• You can also chill you hands to make sure that the dough stays cold.
• Freeze unbaked cut biscuits in a sealed zip lock bag and bake whenever you want biscuits! They keep unbaked in the freezer for 3 months!!
• Handle the dough as little as possible. This recipe calls for folding the dough multiple times, but you still want a springy and soft dough. Overhandled dough will result in tough and gummy biscuits. 
• Place the biscuits right next to each other on the lined baking sheet. This will help them to rise. 
• Serve with homemade bourbon honey butter from this recipe for a real treat.

FAQ's

Here's a video showing how to make these biscuits:

Looking for recipes to serve with these biscuits!? Check these out!

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