These biscuits are pure buttery miracles—so flaky, buttery, and golden, with a subtle sourdough tang. No stress, no fancy tools, no complicated techniques. There’s just a few pantry staples and about 20 minutes of hands-on time between you and a stack of delicious biscuits!
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Sourdough biscuits are tall, flaky biscuits that use discard for tang and tenderness—keep the butter cold, fold the dough, and chill before baking for sky-high lift. If you’ve ever felt intimidated by the idea of making biscuits, this recipe will change your mind! Making sourdough biscuits is much easier than you might think. If you can stir ingredients, smush pieces of butter, and stack layers of dough a couple times, you already have all the skills you need to get towering bakery-worthy biscuits on your table!
Jump To:
- Why You’ll Love These Sourdough Biscuits
- Secrets to Making Super-Fluffy Sourdough Biscuits
- Why This Recipe Works
- Ingredients You Need and Why
- Layering Biscuit Dough for Maximum Flakiness
- How to Store, Freeze, and Reheat your Biscuits
- Troubleshooting Sourdough Biscuits
- How to Serve Sourdough Biscuits
- Flavour Variations for Sourdough Biscuits
- FAQs
- Sky-High Sourdough Biscuits with Discard
- Did You Make These Sourdough Biscuits?
Why You’ll Love These Sourdough Biscuits
- Ridiculously fluffy and flaky, with some serious rise
- No need for any fancy tools, techniques, or ingredients. You already have everything you need, and I’ll show you an easy technique for getting tons of flaky layers!
- Freezer-friendly and easy to make-ahead. Perfect for an effortless brunch!
Secrets to Making Super-Fluffy Sourdough Biscuits
- Keep everything cold. You want to prevent the butter from melting into the dough, so keep both the butter and liquid ingredients in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour before baking for the best oven spring. This keeps the butter from melting in the oven long enough that its water can evaporate as steam, which makes the layers puff up into flaky goodness!
- Layering the dough just after mixing creates even more beautiful layers of butter in the dough. It’s almost like making a laminated dough like puff pastry, but without the fuss.
- Avoid over-mixing the dough so you don’t develop too much gluten. Just press or gently knead the dough just until it comes together. When you’re ready to cut the biscuits out, either press the dough out or roll gently with a rolling pin.
- The dough should look shaggy but hold together when you squeeze it after mixing. The flour will continue hydrating when it’s resting in the fridge and the dough will hold together beautifully.
Why This Recipe Works
Butter contains around 15-18% water, which turns to steam in a hot oven. Cutting or grating cold butter into the flour and then stacking the dough is similar to making rough puff pastry. This simple technique creates hundreds of layers of butter that will burst into steam in the oven, giving you towering flaky layers! The key is to keep everything cold so the butter remains separate from the flour.
Ingredients You Need and Why
- All-purpose flour has a medium gluten content to give the biscuits the structure they need to rise tall, without being unpleasantly chewy.
- Unsalted butter is really the star of the show, responsible both for the delicious buttery flavour and flaky layers.
- Milk and sourdough discard are the liquids that bind the biscuits together. You can sub the milk out for water or a non-dairy milk, or use half-and-half cream for some seriously rich biscuits! If you don’t already have discard you’ll need to either make some sourdough starter yourself or ask for some from a local bakery or sourdough baker.
- Baking powder helps the biscuits rise. Most baking powder is double-acting, meaning it will start rising the biscuits first when it gets mixed with liquid ingredients, and again when it gets heated in the oven. Baking powder can expire and lose its effectiveness, so always check the date on the package.
Pro Tips for Cutting Biscuits
- Avoid twisting the cutter if you are cutting round biscuits, which closes off the edges and inhibits rise.
- Gently pat scraps together and only re-roll once. Bake any remaining scraps as-is for a chef’s snack.
- Apply egg wash only to the tops. If it gets on the sides it can seal the edges and prevent the biscuits from rising.
- Cut the biscuits square and you won’t have to re-roll any scraps at all!
Layering Biscuit Dough for Maximum Flakiness
Cutting and stacking the biscuit dough into layers is an easy technique that mimics laminated dough, and it results in gloriously flaky biscuits with towering layers. It only takes a few minutes, so don’t skip this step!
Gently pat the dough out into a square or rectangle that’s about ½” (1.25 cm) thick. Cut it into quarters.
Stack the pieces on top of each other. Repeat patting the dough out, cutting, and layering one more time.
How to Store, Freeze, and Reheat your Biscuits
| Method | How to Do It | How Long |
|---|---|---|
| Baked, at room temperature | Store in a breadbox or airtight container. After the first day cut it open and toast it—it’ll be almost as good as fresh from the oven! | Up to 3 days |
| Raw, in the fridge | Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate and then roll, cut, and bake the biscuits. Or you can roll and cut the biscuits and refrigerate them on a baking sheet covered with plastic wrap. | Up to 2 days |
| Baked, in the freezer | Let the biscuits cool completely. Pre-cut them and place in an airtight freezer bag, then place a cut biscuit in a toaster to refresh it. Or, you can freeze whole biscuits then refresh them in a 350˚F (175˚C) oven wrapped in foil for 10-15 minutes. | Up to 3 months |
| Raw, in the freezer | Arrange the raw biscuits on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze until solid and transfer to an airtight freezer bag. Bake straight from the freezer, adding a couple minutes to the bake time. | Up to 3 months |
Pro Tip
Arrange the biscuits on the baking sheet so they’re touching each other. This prevents them from spreading out or leaning over, helping the biscuits get nice and tall.
Troubleshooting Sourdough Biscuits
Why didn’t my biscuits rise?
There are a few things that could cause this to happen. Your baking powder might be expired, or your butter and wet ingredients weren’t kept cold enough and too much of the butter melted into the dough. Your oven temperature might have been too cool, causing the butter to melt out of the biscuits. Finally, you might have twisted the cutter or allowed egg wash to drip onto the sides, both of which can seal the edges and prevent the biscuits from rising up to their fullest potential.
Why did my biscuits spread out too much?
The raw biscuits might have been too warm before going into the oven. Leave them in the fridge for at least 1 hour or in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before baking. You can also arrange the biscuits on the baking sheet so they’re touching each other. That way they’ll support each other during baking and not spread out too much or slump over. Also, make sure you fully preheat the oven before putting the biscuits in—if they sit in a warm but not hot oven, the butter will melt out and the biscuits won’t bake properly.
Why are my biscuits dry and crumbly?
This would be caused by either not adding enough liquid, or overbaking the biscuits. Next time use a scale to measure the ingredients accurately. Pay close attention to the biscuits in the oven starting at around 20 minutes and pull them out once they’re risen and flaky and lightly golden brown on top. You might consider getting an oven thermometer to confirm what temperature your oven is heating to (many oven thermostats aren’t accurate!)
Why are my biscuits dense or gummy?
You can end up with gummy and dense biscuits for a variety of reasons. If you overmixed or overworked the dough, you may have developed too much gluten which can lead to dense and tough biscuits. Adding too much liquid or underbaking can also lead to gummy and dense biscuits. Make sure you’re measuring the ingredients accurately by weighing with a scale, and pay close attention to the biscuits in the oven—don’t pull them out until they’re tall and flaky and lightly golden brown. Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is actually heating to the right temperature.
Why did my biscuits turn out sour?
Your discard was a bit too old, and imparted a strong sour flavour to the biscuits. Next time, use discard that’s no more than about 2 weeks old and give it a sniff before using it to make sure it hasn’t gone more sour than you like.
How to Serve Sourdough Biscuits
A warm biscuit slathered with some salted butter is about as close to heaven as you can possibly get on Earth, and if that’s the only way you ever eat your biscuits I certainly won’t judge! But if you are interested in serving them in other ways, there’s lots of things you can use biscuits for:
- As the bread for a breakfast sandwich with a fried egg, bacon or ham, cheese, lettuce, and tomato (or whatever breakfast sandwich toppings you like most!)
- Add some fried or crispy chicken, maple syrup or honey butter and pickles, for an amazing fried chicken sandwich.
- With your favourite jam, honey butter, or other spread
- With clotted or whipped cream and fresh berries
- Make them mini by using 1 to 1½” circular cutters (or cut small squares) for a fun brunch charcuterie board . You may need to reduce the bake time by a minute or two for smaller biscuits, so keep a close eye on them in the oven!
Flavour Variations for Sourdough Biscuits
This is a great base recipe that’s easy to customize with lots of different flavours. Here are just a few ideas—but the sky’s is really the limit so feel free to experiment!
Savoury Flavour Ideas
- Brown Butter, Thyme & Black Pepper To add a rich, nutty depth of flavour, brown 170 grams of butter (here’s a complete guide on browning butter). Add water to it until it measures 170 grams again and whisk until combined. Chill it until solid and then use it like normal in the recipe. If you want an herby twist, whisk about 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh or dried thyme with the flour, salt, and baking powder before tossing in the browned butter pieces.
- Dill Pickle & Cheddar Fold in about 2 tablespoons of finely-chopped dill pickles after squeezing out the excess moisture, along with ½ cup of grated sharp cheddar after cutting in the butter. Savoury, briny, and makes a killer sandwich with a fried egg, ham, and cheese!
- Caramelized Onion & Gruyère Caramelize an onion and cool completely before folding in about ½ cup each of the caramelized onions and shredded Gruyère into the dough after cutting in the butter.
- Za’atar + Feta For delicious Middle Eastern vibes, fold 2 tablespoons of za’atar spice blend and 1 cup of crumbled feta into the dry ingredients.
- Sun-Dried Tomato, Parmesan & Chives Chop ½ cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (make sure to drain off all of the liquid), about 2 tablespoons of finely-chopped fresh chives, and ½ cup of flaked parmesan, and fold them into the dough after cutting in the butter. Goes amazing with soup or scrambled eggs!
- Scallion & Gochujang For biscuits that are a little bit spicy and funky (in a good way) reduce the milk by 40 grams and whisk in 3 tablespoons of gochujang (Korean chili paste) into the wet ingredients, and fold in about ½ cup of finely-chopped scallions into the dough after cutting in the butter.
Sweet Flavour Ideas
- Salted Maple Replace 20 grams of the milk with 20 grams of maple syrup. After brushing on the egg wash, sprinkle on some flaky sea salt. Sweet-savoury magic.
- Rosemary & Dark Chocolate This flavour combo sounds strange but it really works! Chop up ¼ cup of dark chocolate (or use mini chocolate chips) and about 2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, and fold into the dough after cutting in the butter.
- Orange Zest, Cranberry & White Chocolate A delicious flavour combo for winter! Fold in ½ cup of dried cranberries, the zest of 1 orange, and Dried cranberries, finely grated orange zest, and ¼ cup of chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips.
- Strawberries & Cream Crush about ½ cup of freeze-dried strawberries into pieces about the size of peas. Fold those in along with ¼ cup of chopped white chocolate or chips into the dough after cutting in the butter.
FAQs
Yes, but active starter has a stronger gluten structure than discard so you may have a harder time bringing the dough together. I recommend using unfed discard. For the best flavour, use discard that was fed no more than 2 weeks ago.
Chilling the dough is the best way to get a sky-high flaky biscuit! That solidifies the butter in the dough, meaning it can steam up in the oven to get those gorgeous flaky layers before the fat in the butter has a chance to melt. I don’t recommend skipping this step!
Yes! Just swap out an equal amount of dairy-free or vegan milk and butter alternatives.
If you eyeball your ingredients when you feed your starter, you might not have a 100% hydration starter (one that’s made with equal weights of flour and water). If so, no problem! You can make adjustments as you mix. You’re aiming for a shaggy dough that just holds together. If your discard is really thin and runny, you may need to hold back some of the liquid mixture and see how the dough is coming together. If your discard is thick, you may need to add more milk a splash at a time.
Yes! In a toaster oven keep the temperature and bake time about the same. For an air fryer, heat it to 320˚F (160˚C) and bake for 8-12 minutes. You’ll be baking in smaller batches if you’re using a toaster oven or air fryer—keep the rest of the raw biscuits in the fridge or freezer until right before they go into the oven. Whether you’re using a toaster oven or air fryer, keep an eye on the biscuits to to make sure they don’t burn. If they’re browning too fast you can tent some foil on top.
You may need to reduce the baking powder by ¼ teaspoon for every 1,000 ft (305 m) of altitude over 5,000 ft (1525 m) above sea level. Start checking your biscuits for doneness at around 18-20 minutes.
Sky-High Sourdough Biscuits with Discard
Ingredients
Method
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together 500 g all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons baking powder, and 1 teaspoon fine sea salt. Toss in 170 g unsalted butter until all of the pieces are coated in butter. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour until most of it resembles breadcrumbs and none of the pieces are larger than the size of peas.
- In a medium mixing bowl or measuring glass with a spout, whisk together 200 g sourdough discard and 300 g cold milk or water until completely combined. Pour it over the butter and flour mixture. Fold in the wet ingredients until the flour is all hydrated. It will still look rough and shaggy at this point, but the dough should be able to hold together if pressed. If it doesn't, add extra milk or water about 1 tablespoon at a time until it does.
- Pour the dough out onto a clean work surface. Gently pat it into a square or rectangle that's about 1" (2.5 cm) thick. Cut into quarters, and stack the pieces on top of each other. Pat it into a square or rectangle once more, and repeat cutting and layering. Press the final layers together, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F (205˚C). Either line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat, or lightly butter a cast iron skillet. Gently roll the dough out until it's about ½" (1.3 cm) thick. Use a circular cookie or biscuit cutter to cut as many biscuits as you can, without twisting the cutter. Gather the scraps together and pat them out to a thickness of about ½" (1.3 cm), and cut out more biscuits. You can only cut scraps once, but you can bake them on the edges of the baking sheet for a chef's snack.If you don't want to deal with scraps, you can roll the biscuit dough to a roughly square or rectangular shape, and use a knife to cut square or rectangular biscuits.
- Whisk 1 egg until the white and yolk are completely combined, and brush some on the top of each biscuit. Be careful not to let any egg wash get on the sides of the biscuits or they may not rise as well. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tall and flaky and lightly golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet until easy to handle.
- Biscuits are best enjoyed the same day. If you have any leftovers, cut them open and pop them in the toaster so they're (almost) as nice and crispy as they were fresh out of the oven.
Notes
Did You Make These Sourdough Biscuits?
Drop your questions below and don’t forget to leave a star rating! Your feedback helps other bakers, and ratings help more people discover this recipe.
Jolene says
Turn out great. My first time making biscuits. I’ll do better next time. Delicious
Joanna Rankin says
Oh yay, so glad to hear it worked well for you!