High-Rise Buttermilk Biscuits

This recipe comes from chats with friends and many weekend mornings of making biscuits. Pay close attention to technique -- it is certainly as important as the ingredients -- and you'll surely make a moist, airy, tasty biscuit with good rise. Important: Use fresh, aluminum-free baking powder; this is less salty than regular baking powder and allows you to add more without affecting taste.

• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 14 mins
• Total Time: 44 mins
• Calories: 349 Calories

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups cake flour
• 2 ½ tablespoons aluminum-free baking powder
• ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
• 1 ⅓ cups buttermilk, or more as needed
• 1 tablespoon salted butter, melted

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).

Step 2

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Add unsalted butter and mix at medium speed until well incorporated and the mixture resembles wet sand, about 4 minutes.

Step 3

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in buttermilk until dough sticks together.

Step 4

Dump dough onto a flour work surface; pat into a rectangle. Pat remaining dry crumbs into the mixture by hand.

Step 5

Cut dough in half with a floured bench knife; stack cut halves on top of each other. Press layers together to about 1 1/2-inch thickness, shaping a long rectangle as you go. Repeat 3 to 5 times.

Step 6

Cut dough into 8 even squares with the bench knife. Cut off uneven edges and put these scraps to the side; clean cuts on all sides will encourage rise. Pat scraps together to make 1 odd-shaped ninth biscuit.

Step 7

Place biscuits close together in a 9-inch square pan and brush with melted salted butter. Place pan on top of the warm stove for 10 to 15 minutes to rise.

Step 8

Bake biscuits in the preheated oven, checking halfway through bake time, until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 14 to 18 minutes.