Without question, my favorite meal is breakfast. There’s something really special about breakfast; coffee, eggs, the crisp morning air and the whole day in front of you. (Do I sound like a motivational speaker yet? Or worse, do I sound like a fitness influencer on Instagram?)
This recipe is a quick, easy and delicious way to use your sourdough starter discard. Excess sourdough discard can build up pretty quickly and it’s good to have a few easy recipes on hand for those moments. I normally have the ingredients needed to make biscuits in my pantry and fridge at any given time. As long as you have flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter and milk you’re set!
This particular recipe boasted tall, fluffy biscuits with lots of layers and a wonderfully tangy finish. Can a biscuit really be all of that and more? The answer was a resounding yes! I was skeptical about this recipe at first, but it far exceeded my expectations.
I mean, just look at those tall, fluffy biscuits!
If you’re a biscuits and gravy fan like I am (and I’m a huge fanatic, but like, in a good way), then you should definitely check out my classic B&G recipe. My traditional biscuit recipe is really tasty, but these sourdough biscuits are sure to be a welcome change to that Southern classic.
Before I get to the recipe I have to let you know what our favorite feline food critic thought. (How could I forget?) Chloe loved the biscuits! (Obviously.) She gave it two licks and was really loving the warm, melted butter on top of the split biscuits. Another 10/10!
Notes
The Easy Way to Cut Butter into Pastry Dough
It’s really scary watching people use knives to try and cut the butter into the dry ingredients. (It reminds me of Edward Scissor Hands—Yikes.) If you have a food processor, it’s really simple and no fingers need to be lost in the process.
First, freeze your butter for (at least) an hour before adding it to the biscuit dough. Next, add all the dry ingredients to a food processor and pulse until combined. Cube the frozen butter and add it to the food processor. Pulse the ingredients together again until you see pea-sized pieces of butter. Then, add the milk and sourdough starter to the mixture and pulse until a dough begins to form. Dump the dough on your counter and shape. Done! (See how easy that was? Please, put the knives down.)
What Milk to Use
The recipe I adapted this one from called for full fat milk but I didn’t have that on hand (our family isn’t big on milk). But we did have almond milk so I used that instead and the biscuits turned out fantastic! I don’t think the kind of milk used really matters here, just use what you like.
What to Bake your Biscuits In
I really recommend using something round to bake these in. Preferably using a cast-iron skillet, but a pie tin (or two—this recipe is large) would get the job done. It’s also important to pick something that is just the right size for all the biscuits because they really need each other to lean against so they don't fall over and get wonky. They help each other rise—it's the buddy system for biscuits! (So cute!)
Sourdough Biscuits
Yield: 14 biscuits
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
4 ½ cups (562g) All Purpose flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
1 cup (226g) butter
2 cups (500g) sourdough discard
½ cup milk of choice (see notes)
Directions
Place your butter in the freezer for 1 hour, or overnight, to ensure it’s frozen.
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Lightly grease the bottom of a 10-12” cast iron skillet.
In a food processor add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pulse until the ingredients are well combined.
Next, take the butter out of the freezer and cut it into slices. Put the sliced butter into the food processor and pulse the mixture until you see pea sized bits of butter.
Add the sourdough starter and milk to the food processor and continue to pulse the mixture until a shaggy dough begins to form.
Next, dump the dough onto a floured surface and work the dough just enough to combine all the loose crumbs. Be careful not to overwork the dough.
Press the dough out into a 1” thick circle and cut out circles using a 2-2 1/2” cookie or biscuit cutter. Be sure to push straight down without twisting the cutter. If you twist the cutter while cutting out your biscuits it will seal the layers and the biscuits won't rise properly. Also, if your cutter begins to stick, dip it in flour between cuts.
Cut out as many biscuits as you can. Then, carefully reform the dough to cut out more biscuits until you’ve used all the dough.
Arrange them inside the cast iron skillet so the edges of the biscuits are touching. The biscuits need each other to lean on so they rise properly.
Brush the tops of the biscuits with milk or butter and bake for 15-20 minutes and the tops of the biscuits begin to turn golden brown.
Enjoy!
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