Ben Starr’s Sourdough Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
In a bowl combine:
- 4 oz sourdough starter
- 4 oz buttermilk
Whisk until completely smooth. In another bowl, combine:
- 7 oz all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse salt or 1/2 tsp fine salt
Mix well, then add:
- 4 oz unsalted butter very cold, cut into slices (I grate mine)
Instructions
- Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender, 2 knives, or your fingers, until the mixture resembles small pebbles and coarse crumbs. (Or, alternately, grate the stick of butter into the flour on a box grater, and stir to combine.)
- Add the liquid ingredients to the dry, and using a fork, gently drag the dry into the wet to combine. Work as gently as possible to minimize gluten development.
- Once it becomes too stiff to use the fork, use the back of your fingers to gently press the ingredients into a flat mass on the bottom of the bowl. Fold 1/3 of the mass over on top of itself, scooping up any dry ingredients underneath and moving them to the top. Then fold the remaining 1/3 of the mass on top of the previous fold, also scooping up any dry ingredients and moving them to the top. Gently press back down into a flat mass.
- Repeat this folding process again, continuing to scoop up dry ingredients and incorporating them, and press down flat once more.
- Remove the dough to a floured surface, placing any remaining dry ingredients on top, and gently pat flat. Do one final folding process, and then pat the dough out to 1″ / 2.5cm thick. (Do NOT use a rolling pin.)
- Optimize the shape of your dough to minimize the amount of dough left over after the first cut-out sequence.
- Gently mash together any remaining scraps, and do a second cut-out. (A third cut-out will result in hard, tough biscuits.) Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment or foil, and bake in the preheated oven for 14 minutes, or until crusty and brown on both the bottoms and the tops. Devour IMMEDIATELY!
Notes
Click on my highlighted blue name at the top of the recipe to see Ben Starr’s video if you want to watch him make these biscuits.
I love that these are sourdough AND that I get a beautiful, flaky, tall biscuit. I don’t buy unsalted butter so I just reduce the salt. YUMMY!