Sourdough biscuits are perfectly flaky and so soft and buttery. They are perfect with gravy or jam, and are a favorite recipe at my house. They are one of my most popular recipes for a reason, they are simple to make and perfect with any topping.
These biscuits are a long fermented dough, which makes them so full of flavor and also really easy on the stomach. They naturally rise into pillowy soft biscuits with a crunchy crush that satisfies SO many cravings in every bite.
Long Ferment Sourdough Biscuits
These sourdough biscuits are seriously a must try recipe! They are really simple to make, so perfect if you are just starting out with your sourdough baking. I share all of my tips and tricks, so I promise they will turn out every time!
If I’m not making sourdough pancakes for breakfast, I’m pulling some of these biscuits out of the freezer and throw some homemade jam on top of them. They are so perfect topped with a sausage gravy, dipped in a creamy soup, or served with honey butter.
How Long Will This Recipe Take?
This is an overnight ferment, so it will take you around 12-24 hours to make in total. It depends on how long you would like to let the dough ferment. I recommend longer than 6 hours, but I usually just let it ferment until it’s convenient for me to make them. They always turn out great!
What You Will Need
- All-Purpose Flour: It’s the easiest flour to work with for this recipe.
- Butter: The butter is the key to this recipe! You will want to use unsalted butter, and to keep it as cold as possible. If you are using a pastry cutter to mix your butter up, just make sure to mix it as quickly as you can to keep it cold.
- Granulated Sugar: Just a little bit of sugar helps to feed the sourdough starter and makes this dough perfectly sweet and sour.
- Sourdough Starter: You will want to use active starter that has been fed between 6-12 hours before use.
- Milk: Milk makes the dough really soft and adds more fat which helps with laminations and all of the flaky delicious layers.
- Salt: A little salt helps the biscuits bake better and brings out all of the nice flavors.
- Baking Soda and Powder: These help the dough rise while baking.
How to Make Sourdough Biscuits
Day 1
- Add flour to a large bowl, then cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter, a food processor, or whatever you have on hand.
- Add sugar and gently stir to incorporate. Then add starter and milk, and gently incorporate until thoroughly combined. Cover your dough and leave it on the counter to ferment overnight or at least 10 hours.
Day 2
- Remove dough from bowl, spread it out on the counter, and sprinkle salt, baking powder, and baking soda on top. Knead dough to mix in thoroughly.
- Flour countertop, and roll out dough with a rolling pin to roughly 1/2 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out your biscuits and place them on a pan. Let them rise on the pan for about 15 minutes.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes. When they are finished, brush the top of the biscuits with butter and enjoy!
Tips for Making Flaky Sourdough Biscuits
If you are making sourdough biscuits for the first time, I recommend watching my video that will walk you through step-by-step instructions. It’s the easiest way to learn! I’ve linked it below in the recipe card. Here are some other tips for making perfect sourdough biscuits.
- Using Hands to Mix Dough: I really love working with my hands for kneading this dough. It’s important for butter to stay cold, so make sure your hands aren’t really hot! If I notice that my hands are warm, I will run them under cold water and dry them off before handling the dough.
- Using a Food Processor: You can do the first two steps entirely in the food processor. It’s an easy way to make sure the butter doesn’t get too warm and it does a great job.
- Using Sourdough Discard: I prefer to use active sourdough starter because I think they taste better and tend to puff up more. I have used inactive starter before and still had great results. You can pull the starter out of the fridge and use it if you didn’t have time to feed your starter.
Sourdough Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 1/2 C butter
- 1 Tbs granulated sugar
- 1 C sourdough starter, active
- 1 C milk
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Add flour to a large bowl, then cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter, a food processor, or whatever you have on hand.
- Add sugar and gently stir to incorporate. Then add starter and milk, and gently incorporate until thoroughly combined. Cover your dough and leave it on the counter to ferment overnight or at least 10 hours.
- Remove dough from bowl, spread it out on the counter, and sprinkle salt, baking powder, and baking soda on top. Knead dough to mix in thoroughly.
- Flour countertop, and roll out dough with a rolling pin to roughly 1/2 inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out your biscuits and place them on a pan. Let them rise on the pan for about 15 minutes.
- Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes. When they are finished, brush the top of the biscuits with butter and enjoy!
