By Sam Sifton
Updated Nov. 13, 2023
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 55 minutes
- Rating
- 5(6,476)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Homemade biscuits are what take us into the kitchen today to cook: fat, flaky mounds of quick bread, golden brown, with a significant crumb. Composed of flour, baking powder, fat and a liquid, then baked in a hot oven, they are an excellent sop for syrup, molasses or honey. They are marvelous layered with country ham or smothered in white sausage gravy, with eggs, with grits. They make a great Thanksgiving side. And if you've never made them before, you'll be delighted to know that biscuits are easy to make. Really.
Featured in: A Quest for New York’s Perfect Biscuit
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 2cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 2tablespoons baking powder
- 1scant tablespoon sugar
- 1teaspoon salt
- 5tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, preferably European style
- 1cup whole milk
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
204 calories; 8 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 28 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 287 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
Step
1
Preheat oven to 425. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl. Transfer to a food processor. Cut butter into pats and add to flour, then pulse 5 or 6 times until the mixture resembles rough crumbs. (Alternatively, cut butter into flour in the mixing bowl using a fork or a pastry cutter.) Return dough to bowl, add milk and stir with a fork until it forms a rough ball.
Step
2
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and pat it down into a rough rectangle, about an inch thick. Fold it over and gently pat it down again. Repeat two more times. Cover the dough loosely with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
Step
3
Gently pat out the dough some more, so that the rectangle is roughly 10 inches by 6 inches. Cut dough into biscuits using a floured biscuit cutter (or even a glass, though its duller edge may result in slightly less tall biscuits). Do not twist cutter when cutting; this crimps the edges of the biscuit and impedes its rise.
Step
4
Place biscuits on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
Ratings
5
out of 5
6,476
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Kim
No, please don't turn the oven on to 425 degrees as your first step. No need to waste energy while you let the biscuits rest for 30 minutes!
swalters
Freeze the butter and then grate it. Use a fork to mix up the dough. Works like a charm and no need to wash the bowl of a food processor!
Samsnona
I'm 78, Southern and these were the best biscuits I've ever made. Probably because I followed the recipe and used 2 tablespoons of baking powder.
Geez and from and a Yankee!
LEL
Many of the notes here raise questions or concerns about the amount of baking powder. Everyone should know that baking powder formulations vary from brand to brand. Go to your supermarket and read the ingredients. The products that use aluminum salts in their formulation are likely the ones that result in an unpleasant flavor. Also see Wikipedia article on Baking Powder.
Cie
Needed only 3/4 cup milk. Mixed dough before bedtime, wrapped in plastic and refrigerated 8 hours.
Baked for breakfast. They rose to twice their original height, crunchy bottom and top, tender crumb, scrumptious. I think the dough "matured" in the fridge overnight, and so the baked product had less of the raw flour taste that I usually get with my quick breads.
David
Instead of cutting in the butter, I've been using a simple technique I read about for getting the butter worked into the dough. Try melting the butter, either over low heat or low power in the microwave, then pour it into the cup of very cold milk. It will reform in smallish chunks that work into the dough very well.
Ceece
Great recipe that makes for a very light and flaky biscuit, plus is very flexible.
- I did not find 2 Tbsp of baking powder excessive.
- The 30 minute resting period can be skipped if time's short, but it really improves the final texture.
- Works both as rounds and squares -- but squares rise "lopsided" since one or two of the sides won't be cut.
- Buttermilk substitutes nicely for the milk, no baking soda needed.
- Have also swapped a bit of white flour with whole wheat. Also delicious!
JoanC
"European style" here in the US means imported butter that has a higher butterfat content than we ordinarily get with domestic butter. (which means more flavor). European brands I see here include Plugra, Lurpak, Presidente and Kerrygold, if that helps.
cc
I pat that rectangle out on the cookie sheet and then, with a sharp knife, cut square biscuits. I don't saw them to cut, as Sam indicates this will impede their rising. I lay the blade on top and press down through the dough.
This way, no re-rolling scraps of dough.
And since the NYTimes health section has informed us to "stop fearing fat"......., melt some bacon grease, shortening or butter. Make sure it's not hot. Dip each biscuit in the extra fat before baking. Double yum.
Tinsa
I will never understand the use of a Cuisnart in making a biscuit or pie dough for that matter. However, unless you're putting out the biscuits for the Queen, one can simply gather the left-over pieces together and push them into crooked little mounds and bake. The 2nd best advice I received for biscuits was to never roll the dough out twice.
Gael C
I have tried these several times and this recipe hasn't failed me yet! Key point...do not twist the biscuit cutter! I like to place my biscuits in a 8 or 9 inch round cake pan so the sides of the biscuits touch each other...it helps them rise and the sides are soft. Great recipe!
Bill
to take this recipe to a new level of perfection. Take about 4-6 ozs. of sharp cheddar cheese, cut it into 1/4 inch squares (more or less) and mix them into the flour before you add the milk. Do not use the food processor to add the milk, use a spoon or fork to mix. When the biscuits are done, the cheese will have melted throughout and you will swoon with pleasure.
Christine
Hey--what's with this "cover the dough and allow it to rest for 30 minutes??" Are you kidding? Cut those puppies and pop them right into the oven at 425 degrees F and watch them head for the sky. Why take such a simple recipe and complicate it?
Regular old American unsalted butter works just fine. So does 1% milk or whatever kind you have in the fridge. Start with 2/3 cups and work your way up, as the dough requires.
2 T of baking powder?? Ewww.... See comment below.
Donneek
I prefer Strawberry Shortcake made with biscuits. These are perfect with a little more sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon of gr. coriander. yum!
As a basic biscuit they were perfect.
Tamar
I saw this recipe and and five minutes later I was in the kitchen looking for the ingredients and pre-heating the oven. I think the recipe is forgiving-I used 4 Tsp aluminum free baking powder, no sugar, and just used a fork (no food processor) to cut the butter into the flour. I used 2/3 cup half & half instead of milk (what I had on hand)! I kneaded the dough, pressed it out by hand, and cut into squares with a knife. I am having them with honey and tea right now and they taste delicious!
Melissa
This is basically the recipe I use BUT I sub whole milk for buttermilk. I will say my best tricks are: freeze the flour and butter for 30 minutes before starting and touch it as little as possible. If you find it like a letter three times (rotating 90 degrees each time), you will get the layers you deserve.I use the grate plate of a food processor to cut the butter in. The whole concept is to keep the fat as cold as possible so when it hits the oven it just rises like a volcano.
Marlene Osboen
I was on a quest to find the very best biscuit recipe, and this is it! I found it in NYT Cooking six months ago. It perfection just as written. When I make them for a meal I make two extra batches and freeze them. I put them on the baking sheet frozen. They take about five extra minutes in the 425° oven.
Bryant Avery
This recipe is very similar to the one my mother gave us as a wedding gift 56 years ago. Over the decades I have jazzed it up by throwing in a few dried cranberries or raisins, or grated some cheese for the mix, or added sunflower/pumpkin seeds. Sky's the limit with this basic recipe.
HanTran
or use a cup of sourdough discard and 1of flour and half cup (depending upon your discard hydration) of milk
Jean Stocks
I would call these scones!
Novice baker
Ugggh I made this recipe with whole wheat flour and they were puffy but BLAND. I guess white AP flour is the only way to make biscuits!
Grace
White Lily flour is the perfect biscuit flour. You’ll never go back once you try it.
Leslie
Is there anything we can do with the leftover dough?
Mike, Peoria, AZ
Good biscuits, made as per recipe. It takes my oven 19.25 minutes to reach 425, so I didn't start pre-heating until the dough was 15 minutes into its 30-minute rest time. I've read articles that the best biscuits are made with soft flour only found in the South, so I'm going to get some of that and see how that does.
Susan Y
Has anyone ever made these with gluten-free flour?
running_granny
I froze the butter as another reviewer suggested and they came out perfectly. This recipe will replace my grandmothers baking powder biscuit recipe! Mine didn't come out quite as tall as the picture, but were still high and flaky. Delicious!
dominic
FYO: In the UK we call these scones. Biscuits are crispy. :-)
Leslie
will these work with gluten free flour?
Marian Latchman
In the U.K. this is a scone. You can omit sugar and add grated cheese with added flavouring such as celery seed, or mustard or paprika.If sweet is what you want keep the sugar and add grated apple and pie spices, or dried cranberry and orange zest, or cinnamon and sultanas.
EvieC
Yum and EASY. Only had heavy cream, used a 3/4 cup and topped off with a couple tablespoons of water instead of milk. I think I’ll cut the salt a bit next time, used the full 2 tablespoons of baking powder, but the texture and amount of rise on baking was perfect. Skipped the food processor too, used a fork and masher instead, which worked just fine.
Private notes are only visible to you.