If you love Southern-style biscuits then wait till you get your hands on this scrumptious and ridiculously easy sourdough discard biscuits recipe. A sourdough biscuit is not much different from an ordinary biscuit, except for the incredibly flaky exterior, with a subtle yet delicious sourdough tang that is quite addictive. Once you’ve baked your first batch, you might have a hard time keeping your hands off them!
Table of Contents
- What is The Best Flour For Sourdough Biscuits?
- What to Serve With Sourdough Biscuits?
- What is Sourdough Discard?
- Benefits of Sourdough
- More Sourdough Recipes
- Sourdough Discard Biscuits
- Sourdough Discard Biscuits – FAQs
Buttermilk Sourdough Discard Biscuits Recipe
This scrumptious sourdough biscuit recipe is simply to die for. Once you’ve removed these wonderfully tall, and flaky biscuits from the oven, it will take all of your willpower to not gobble these divine homemade biscuits in one go!
- Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 250g sourdough starter discard
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- 85g unsalted butter
- 218g all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, lightly butter the bottom of a 10-inch cast iron skillet.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Ensure your ingredients are cold so that the biscuits emerge crispy and flaky.
- Add cold cubed butter into the flour mixture and incorporate until you are left with clumps of butter coating in flour.
- Add sourdough discard and buttermilk, mixing with a fork until a shaggy dough has formed. If the dough seems dry, just add a little more buttermilk until you’ve achieved the perfect biscuit dough consistency.
- Use your hands to knead and fold the dough in the bowl, to incorporate any dry crumbs remaining.
- Transfer the dough to a work surface, and press the dough into a 1-inch thick circle
- Use a biscuit cutter to cut the dough into 2 ½-inch circles. Dip your cutter in some flour, and press this into your dough, then lift without twisting. Place your shaped biscuits into the prepped cast iron skillet.
- Any scraps of dough can be pressed and shaped together, then rolled and cut to make more biscuits.
- Brush the tops of these biscuits with melted butter or milk.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the tops are a lovely golden brown.
- Remove them from the oven, and immediately brush with melted butter, then serve warm.
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: bread
- Cuisine: American
Take a look at the details for the ingredients below:
Ingredients
- sourdough starter discard – provides a wonderful tangy flavor to your recipes.
- buttermilk – for super tender and ultra fluffy biscuits, always opt for buttermilk. The acid in buttermilk reacts with the baking powder, creating pillow-soft biscuits that are incredibly addicting.
- unsalted butter – provides an abundance of flaky layers, imparting delicious flavors. Remember to use cold butter for this recipe. (I’ve got a homemade butter recipe, by the way!)
- all-purpose flour – provides the perfect quantity of protein for these biscuits to maintain their flaky-fluffy structure.
- baking powder – this is the main leavening agent that reacts with buttermilk and helps to tenderize the dough.
- baking soda – this helps your sourdough biscuits maintain a wonderful color, and balance the acidic flavors during the bake.
- sugar – a necessity for sweetness
- salt – enhances the flavors of butter and sourdough discard.
Tips for Making the Best Sourdough Biscuits
While sourdough discard biscuits may be an easy recipe to bake, there are some tips and tricks to ensure an even easier and more successful bake.
These tips have worked for me, and hopefully, they’ll work for you too!
- If you want your sourdough discard biscuits to emerge tall and incredibly flaky, then remember to keep all of your ingredients cold. For best results use frozen butter and discard that has been defrosted in the refrigerator, one hour before prepping and baking. The cold butter will meet the intense heat of the oven, and instantly shoot up within your biscuit batter, creating those divine layers and brilliant height!
- Don’t use your hands too much to knead the dough, as the heat from your hands will melt the butter.
- Dip your biscuit cutter in some flour for each biscuit cut. Press straight down on the dough and do not twist when removing the biscuit cutter, because you’ll seal the edges of the biscuit dough and you won’t get a rise, or have any layers.
- While the oven heats up, place your biscuits in the freezer so that everything remains extremely cold.
What is The Best Flour For Sourdough Biscuits?
When baking biscuits you want to choose the best flour for sourdough biscuits, and in this case, you’ll require flour with lower protein content.
Generally, all-purpose flour has a protein content of 12%. Hhowever, you could easily opt for lower, with White Lily (9% protein content) or Gold Medal (10.5% protein content).
What to Serve With Sourdough Biscuits?
Sourdough biscuits can be served with just about anything. While their heavenly flakiness may taste impeccable when devoured on its own, there are even better ways to enjoy this light and delicious snack.
Some of my favorite accompaniments are outlined below:
Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich
Biscuit breakfast sandwich anyone? You can enjoy your sourdough discard biscuits for breakfast with fried, scrambled, or poached eggs. I like to go for fried eggs with a gooey center so that it oozes beautifully all over the flaky biscuits.
- Slice your discard biscuit in half, and carefully place your eggs onto one halved piece.
- Top this with some chopped cress, salt, pepper, and a pinch of chili flakes for a breakfast sandwich that bites back – trust me, each bite only gets better!
I’ve got a sourdough breakfast sandwich recipe!
Jammy Biscuits
I know that jam is one of the simpler spreads, but hear me out.
Get your choice of jam (I like to use raspberry jam) and thickly spread the jam over a halved biscuit, then seal this closed with the other half.
The crisp and flaky texture, followed by the salty, tanginess of the discard biscuits, is beautifully enhanced with the jam. You’ll have all sorts of flavors exploding in your mouth, and you’ll definitely be back for another!
Buttered Biscuits
While butter may belong on bread, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t become acquainted with buttermilk biscuits. These delicious biscuits have a buttery element to them, so when they’re topped with additional butter, the results are heavenly!
I like to half and toast my biscuits for a minute, before adding a small glob of butter to these warmed biscuits.
Honey Biscuits
When you pair honey with biscuits, you’ve got yourself a quick satiating treat.
Simply spread a small amount of honey over your flaky biscuits, and indulge in its sweetened savory depth.
What is Sourdough Discard?
Essentially, sourdough discard is a portion of an unfed sourdough starter that is discarded before each feed. You could choose to dispose of the discard entirely or keep this in a separate jar for some delicious sourdough discard recipes.
Benefits of Sourdough
Sourdough bread is often considered highly nutritious compared to regular bread, This is mainly due to the sourdough starter which is fermented before it is ready to bake. The fermentation process is what helps the mixture produce good bacteria and wild yeasts, providing incredible health benefits.
Some of these benefits include:
- Better digestion: The fermentation process makes it easier for your stomach to digest sourdough bread or any other kind of sourdough recipe. Those who consume sourdough often are less likely to experience bloating issues, digestion problems, and other gut-related issues.
- Aids in weight loss: Sourdough may aid in weight loss due to its high prebiotic content compared to regular bread, enabling your digestive system to absorb all of the nutrients, which regulate glucose and metabolism.
- Lowers blood sugar levels: Sourdough is fermented in a way that obliterates bad starches within it. Consequently reducing the risk of blood sugar rising.
More Sourdough Recipes
If you love flaky sourdough biscuits, then it’s time to make a list of more incredible, and delicious sourdough recipes. You can choose to use a sourdough discard or a mature sourdough starter for each of the recipe ideas below, however, bear in mind that this can affect baking and eating time!
Sourdough Discard Biscuits
These delicious, flaky sourdough discard biscuits are truly the best biscuits I’ve ever made, and if you find yourself agreeing with this statement, then you must try these incredible sourdough discard recipes.
Sourdough Discard Biscuits – FAQs
Does the Discard Help the Biscuits Rise?
Since the sourdough discard is inactive, it won’t contribute to the biscuits rising in this recipe. This is where elements like baking soda and baking powder are required to help leaven the dough.
What Happens if You Bake Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is commonly used in recipes without the need for additional flour. This means that it can be baked immediately. The discarded starter’s flour is already fermented, consequently providing sourdough flavor to your recipe.
Is Eating With Sourdough Discard Healthy?
Sourdough discard provides several health benefits, making it an incredibly healthy component in any sourdough recipe. It’s brimming with vitamin B, omega 3, and probiotics.
Does Sourdough Discard Spoil?
At room temperature, sourdough discard should last for 1-2 days, anything beyond that will intensify the acidity levels in the mixture, making it impossible to use in sweet recipes.