These fluffy, buttery sourdough biscuits are made with leftover sourdough discard, giving them a hearty flavor and tender texture. They can be made quickly for an easy breakfast, or long-fermented for added flavor and sourdough benefits.
Homemade sourdough biscuits effortlessly pair with any meal. Served with sausage gravy, they are a popular main dish for breakfast; sliced in half, they make the best egg and bacon breakfast sandwiches. Spread them with butter and homemade strawberry jam for a versatile side dish. They can even be topped with sweetened whipped cream and fresh fruit for dessert, just like this sourdough peach cobbler.
When made with sourdough discard and baked right away, these biscuits are quick and easy, while still offering great taste, texture, and nutrition from the addition of the fermented sourdough.
The long-fermented version follows a very similar process but ferments overnight before adding the leaveners. This fermentation time improves the digestion of the grains and makes the nutrients more bioavailable, yielding tender biscuits with deep flavor and lots of sourdough tang.
There’s nothing better than rustic, golden biscuits in a cast-iron skillet, which just happens to be one of my favorite sourdough baking tools.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Flavor and texture – You’ll enjoy the distinct tangy flavor of sourdough alongside the buttery and tender texture of these soft, flaky sourdough biscuits.
Better nutrition – The fermentation time provides benefits to your gut health with prebiotics, which feed your probiotics, facilitating a healthier gut microbiome. The process also frees up nutrients in the grains by breaking down phytic acid, resulting in more nutritious biscuits.
Simple and quick – An easy recipe made with simple ingredients, these fluffy biscuits have the best flavor and can be ready in about half an hour. They are also a great way to use up extra sourdough discard!
Ingredients
Flour – I use freshly milled whole wheat white flour, but you can use all-purpose flour.
Cold butter – Cold butter is much easier to work with.
Sourdough discard – For this recipe, you can use an active sourdough starter or discard. Discard will add more sourdough flavor than fed starter.
Baking powder and baking soda – Even though these are sourdough biscuits, there is no kneading like bread, so there is less gluten formation, and in return, less natural rise. The rise comes from these added leavening agents.
Milk or buttermilk – Buttermilk adds another depth of tanginess, but milk also works great.
A full ingredient list with exact amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How to Make Sourdough Biscuits
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt to a large mixing bowl and combine.
Step 2: Chop the cold butter into chunks and add it to the flour mixture. Cut with a pastry cutter until the butter resembles coarse crumbs.
Step 3: Add sourdough discard and buttermilk, stirring until the ingredients are incorporated.
Step 4: Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, rolling it out to about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut out the biscuits using a biscuit cutter or even the rim of a glass. Gather biscuit dough scraps together and roll out again, continuing until all the dough is cut into biscuits.
Step 5: Place the cut biscuits onto a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet, a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, or a greased glass baking dish.
Step 6: Bake for 14 to 20 minutes until the edges start to turn golden brown.
Long-fermented Sourdough Biscuits
Step 1: Add flour and sugar to a large mixing bowl and stir. Chop cold butter into cubes and add to the flour, cutting with a pastry blender until the butter resembles coarse crumbs.
Step 2: Add the sourdough discard and buttermilk, stirring until just combined.
Step 3: Cover the bowl with a tight lid (i.e. plastic wrap, lid, beeswax wrap) and place it into the fridge for 24 hours. For best digestion, I recommend three days.
Step 4: The next day, sprinkle baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the top of the fermented dough. Incorporate well.
Step 5: On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out to about 3/4 to 1 inch thick and cut out the biscuits. Cut out as many as you can, then gather the scraps and roll them out again. Continue this process until all the dough has been cut into biscuits.
Step 6: Place the biscuits into the prepared cast-iron skillet or baking sheet. Space them out if you’d like to keep them separated, as they will expand while baking. You can also keep them close together, and they can just be pulled apart after baking, which will keep the sides softer.
Step 7: Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
Step 8: Bake biscuits for 14 to 20 minutes or until golden.
Tips
- If you have a gluten sensitivity, aim to ferment these biscuits for 24 hours.
- Incorporate cold butter with a pastry cutter, cheese grater, a couple of forks, or even your hands.
- This recipe can use an active starter or discard, and fermentation is optional.
- Cut your biscuits using a biscuit cutter, mason jar, cookie cutter, or anything round. You could also cut them into squares.
- A bench scraper is helpful for transferring the cut biscuits to the baking sheet if they are sticking.
- Add a cup of shredded cheese and some garlic powder to the dough and brush the tops of the biscuits with garlic butter for a savory, cheddar biscuit.
Recipe FAQs
Cooled biscuits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of days, or refrigerated for about a week. Biscuits can also be frozen in a freezer-safe bag or container for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or gently reheat in the oven.
Flat biscuits are often the result of old baking powder and/or baking soda. If these ingredients are not fresh, then they may not provide a good rise. Biscuits can also be flat if the dough is overworked or the oven is not hot enough.
To add more of that delicious sourdough tang, ferment the dough longer. Making a quick biscuit will only give you a slightly sour flavor, while long fermenting the grains (12-24 hours) in a warm spot gives the wild yeast time to ferment the flour and develop that flavor.
Discard can be kept in the fridge for anywhere from one week to several months. Discard still needs to be fed occasionally to keep it from spoiling. If there are signs of mold in your discard, throw it out. For more information, I have a post all about sourdough discard.
Sourdough is so special because not only does it make the grains easier to digest, but it is also more nutritious than non-fermented grains. This is due to grains containing phytic acid, which prevents nutrient absorption. During the fermentation process, phytic acid breaks down, making the nutrients more bioavailable.
More Sourdough Recipes from the Farmhouse
- Sourdough Beignets
- Sourdough English Muffins
- Quick Sourdough Discard Cinnamon Rolls
- Sourdough Coffee Cake
- Sourdough Granola
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour, 280 grams
- 2 teaspoons baking powder, 8 grams
- 1 teaspoon baking soda, 4 grams
- 1 tablespoon sugar, 12 grams
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, 4 grams
- 8 tablespoons cold butter, 113 grams, cut into chunks
- 1 cup sourdough discard, 250 grams
- 1/2 cup milk or buttermilk*, 122 grams, You can also use water
Instructions
QUICK
- Preheat the oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt to a large mixing bowl and combine.
- Chop the cold butter into chunks and add it to the flour mixture. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender.
- Add sourdough discard and buttermilk, stirring until the ingredients are incorporated.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, rolling it out to about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut out the biscuits using a biscuit cutter or even the rim of a glass.
- Place the cut biscuits onto a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 14 to 20 minutes until the edges start to turn golden brown.
LONG-FERMENTED
- Add flour and sugar to a large mixing bowl and stir. Chop cold butter into cubes and add to the flour, cutting with a pastry blender.
- Add the sourdough discard and buttermilk, stirring until just combined. Place a clean tea towel or sheet of plastic wrap over the bowl and allow it to sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.
- The next day, sprinkle baking powder, baking soda, and salt over the top of the fermented dough. Stir well.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 3/4 to 1 inch thick and cut out the biscuits. Cut out as many as you can, then gather the scraps and roll them out again.
- Place the biscuits into the prepared cast-iron skillet or baking sheet. Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
- Bake biscuits for 14 to 20 minutes or until golden.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Why does one recipe say add honey and the other doesn’t? How much honey? Thank you!
Oh my! These are so yummy! I left the dough out all night so it was about 22 hours that it was out. These biscuits are delicious. Thank you for the recipe and thanks for your great tips throughout your site. I also made your sourdough bread yesterday. Turned out fantastic, as well!
I used my Kitchen Aide stand mixer’s dough hook (in 28 years of owning it I think I have used it about 4 times, lol) and it did everything right.
Do you have a teaching video on the different types of flour and what you purchase to mill your flour. Can your recipes use any other flour besides regular flour as I am diabetic. I have heard there is some flour used in sour dough bread from Italy that is ok for diabetics.
I am working on a course for freshly milled grains!
My first attempt at a “discard” and sour dough recipe. Learning patience. I was concerned about adding the baking piwder,powder, and baking soda to a thick dough. I would like tips for that piece of the recipe please.
Turned out well. Soft and nice texture. Light like the Angel biscuits.
three questions:
1.how do I store these biscuits?
2. do I need to let them cool completely before serving
3. how many biscuits does this recipe make?
I like to store them in an airtight container. No, they don’t have to cool completely. Around 12!
Can this biscuit recipe be frozen for later (biscuit or dough)
That should be fine.
Hello, im going to try this recipe and have a question. Should discard starter be room temp or cold?
Either will work.
My first time making sourdough of anything and I went with biscuits
Came out amazing but my cookie was very patch of color, thinking it was the baking soda, powder ? I’ll try next time to mix in better?
But the flavor was amazing and 100% using this recipe again
I am in the middle of this recipe and I have a problem! I fermented for 24 hours but when I went to roll them out, the dough is a sticky mess! I’m stuck in the middle of it, unable to cut them because they are so sticky! What can I do?
Oh no! Sounds like the dough over fermented. Next time don’t leave it to ferment for that long. There’s not much you can do if it over ferments..
So what are your tips for knowing when it’s fermented long enough? Because your recipe states to ferment for at least 8-24 hours, and then specifically for gluten sensitivity to try to get to 24 hours. It would be nice if you had included a note about over fermenting and what to look for.
Biscuit dough isn’t at a super risk of over fermenting! So you are fine to let it go the full 24 hours without worry.
Whenever I have a way too sticky dough for biscuits, I use a cookie scoop to form the shape and drop them into the baking pan. They will be more like drop/cloud biscuits, but at least you will be able to use the ingredients. I wonder if you could stick them in the fridge for a bit too before trying to shape to make the batter cold.
Would using a stand mixer to mix the baking soda and powder incorporate everything better? Making these for the first time and bringing them to a baby shower, so I really need them to taste right 😭
You could. It is probably easier to incorporate by hand though.