I started making easy buttermilk drop biscuits during our kitchen remodel. We were short on refrigerator space, so there wasn't room for buttermilk. That, plus counter space was limited, so rolling would have been messy. I tried a few different biscuit recipes including one which had egg. But since then I've traded it for a different recipe. This recipes does not call for eggs. The fluffy soft biscuits are made with cool melted butter which you add to cold buttermilk. The melted butter forms little clumps. When baked, the clumps release steam and the biscuits rise high. They are so soft, especially if you make them with White Lily or a soft wheat flour.
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Buttermilk Powder Drop Biscuits and Options
You can use buttermilk of course since that's what the original recipe calls for, but buttermilk powder is a real lifesaver when you don't have liquid buttermilk. If using buttermilk powder, check the ratios on your package to see how many tablespoons needed to make 1 cup of milk. It's usually 3 tablespoons. For this recipe you'd put 1 ½ tablespoons of buttermilk powder in with the flour, then use a scant ½ cup of ice cold water. You then add the melted butter directly to the cold water. Alternatively, you can make your own buttermilk using milk and lemon juice. To make your own buttermilk, put ½ tablespoon of lemon juice in a measuring cup and add enough water to make ½ cup. Let it curdle slightly before using.
Melted Butter Biscuits Flour Amount
This recipe was developed using a 140 gram cup of flour. That's a slightly heavy handed cup. If you have a scale, it's best to weigh, especially if you use White Lily which usually runs around 127 grams per cup. I've noticed my cups of flour weigh different amounts depending on where I've lived. In Texas they almost always weighed 127 grams per cup. In Chicago, where it was humid, they'd weigh 140. Here in NC it varies, but usually somewhere around 127.
Vegan Drop Biscuits Recipe
Another nice thing about this recipe is that it's easy to veganize. Just use melted vegan butter and a mixture of lemon juice and soy milk in place of buttermilk. These soft biscuits typically come out a little paler, as pictured below. The batter will be a little thicker. You can experiment using different brands of vegan butter. For the ones in the photo, I used Miyoko's.
Recipe
Small Batch Easy Buttermilk Biscuits
Equipment
- Cast Iron Skillet or Loaf Pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (140 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon sugar
- ⅜ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup very cold buttermilk
- 4 tablespoons salted butter melted and cooled
Instructions
- Make sure your oven rack is set in the middle, then preheat oven to 475F. Have ready a parchment lined baking sheet, a toaster oven tray or a small cast iron skillet.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.
- Add the cooled melted butter to the ice cold buttermilk, then pour it over the dry mixture, stirring with a heavy duty rubber scraper until batter is lumpy and pulls away from the bowl.
- Drop four equal size balls of dough onto the pan or skillet.
- Bake until golden brown and cooked through -- about 15 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Brush tops with some extra melted butter. The timing may vary slightly from oven to oven.
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