Buttermilk Biscuits

Tall, flaky biscuits — no yeast, no waiting, just cold butter and a light hand.

Makes 8 biscuits · Prep 15 min · Bake 14 min

Ingredients

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Cut the cold butter into the flour (with a pastry cutter, fork, or your fingertips) until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces of butter still visible. (Tip: Freezing the butter for 10 minutes and grating it on a box grater is a fast, reliably cold way to cut it in.)
Stir in the buttermilk just until the dough comes together — a few dry streaks are fine. (Tip: Overmixing develops gluten and makes tough biscuits, not fluffy ones. Stop as soon as it holds together.)

Turn the dough onto a floured counter, pat into a rectangle about 1 inch thick, then fold it into thirds like a letter. Repeat this fold 2 more times, then pat back out to 1 inch thick. (Tip: This folding is what creates the flaky layers — each fold builds another sheet of butter between the dough.)
Cut rounds with a floured cutter, pressing straight down without twisting, and place touching each other on a baking sheet. (Tip: Twisting the cutter seals the cut edge and stops the layers from rising; a clean straight-down press keeps them free to puff up.)

Keep everything cold: Cold butter, cold buttermilk, even a chilled bowl if your kitchen is warm. Butter that melts before it hits the oven can't create steam pockets, and steam is what makes the layers puff.
No buttermilk on hand: Stir 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice into a scant cup of regular milk and let it sit 5 minutes — it thickens and sours enough to sub in.