Square Buttermilk Biscuits are tall and flaky with lots of layers thanks to an easy technique. Square or round, these are delicious.
I first starting making these biscuits the day after Thanksgiving. Hot Browns the day or two after Thanksgiving are a long standing tradition in our house. We generally use whatever bread is left over from the feast, which this year was supposed to be my favorite rolls, Fluffy Yeast Rolls. However, the yeast rolls were just too good to save and I ended up with no bread for the Hot Browns. The girls wanted me to make biscuits using a method they had seen where the chef made them square instead of round. I don’t make biscuits that often, not because I can’t make them, but I don’t eat a lot of bread, and if I make biscuits, it’s hard not to eat an entire batch. The girls seemed a little surprised that these turned out perfect.
I used the recipe from Cooks Illustrated, The New Best Recipe, for Buttermilk Biscuits but I tried the technique they had seen. It suggested that once you have your dough barely together, that you form it into a rough rectangle,
cut it into thirds and stack each on top of the other.
Once stacked, gently roll into a rectangle. Next using a sharp knife, cut them into squares. (Some of mine were actually rectangles, I need to work on my cutting skills a bit)
Then I baked them at very high heat.
The result was a PERFECT buttermilk biscuit. Light and fluffy with nice tall layers. Of course I used White Lilly flour. By cutting them, the ideas is that you don’t have scraps that have to be re-rolled which causes the dough to warm up a bit and make flatter biscuits. I liked the technique and have used it several times since. However, these biscuits are just too good to cover with turkey and béchamel in a Hot Brown. I would suggest just eating the biscuits with butter and using toast for your Hot Browns.
I’m making them again next weekend to go with my Mother-in-law’s fried chicken!Square Buttermilk Biscuits
Square Buttermilk Biscuits are tall and flaky with lots of layers thanks to an easy technique. Square or round, these are delicious.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 32 minutes
- Yield: 12 1x
- Category: Bread
Scale
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour, 5 ounces
- 1 cup cake flour, 4 ounces
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter, cold, cut into pieces
- ¾ cup cold buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450º.
- In a food processor, combine the flours, baking powder, soda, sugar and salt and pulse a few times to combine. Add butter cubes and process with 12 one second pulses, it should resemble coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps.
- Pour the buttermilk in and process until the dough gathers into moist clumps, about 8 one second pulses.
- Transfer to a lightly floured surface and form into a rectangle (it will not be a smooth dough) Cut into three sections, stacking each section on top of each other. Gently roll into a 1 inch rectangle and cut into squares. Don’t re-roll.
- Place on ungreased baking sheet (can be covered and refrigerated at this point for up to 2 hours). Bake 10-12 minutes until tops are lightly browned.
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