Homemade buttermilk biscuits are light and fluffy biscuits that are made with just six ingredients. Top with butter and jam, honey, or sausage gravy for a tasty breakfast treat!
Preheat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or with parchment paper. Set aside.
Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
Remove the butter from the freezer and grate the butter into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour mixture until it forms coarse crumbs.
Add the buttermilk and stir in just until combined. Don't overmix.
Turn the biscuit dough out onto a well-floured surface and gently push the dough into a rectangle.
Fold the dough in half over the top and use your hands to gently pat the dough together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again.
Use your hands to gently pat the dough until it is 1 -inch thick.
Lightly flour a 2 ½-inch round biscuit cutter.
Cut out the biscuits as close together as possible. Cut straight up and down. Do not twist the biscuit cutter.
Place the biscuits about 1/4-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
Gently pat the dough scraps together and repeat until you've used all of the dough.
Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible.
Bake for about 10-14 minutes, or until the top of the biscuits is just beginning to turn golden brown.
Brush the hot biscuits with melted butter.
Serve immediately.
Notes
All-purpose flour: Biscuits should be light and fluffy, so it's important to measure the flour properly. Either weigh the flour (click on "metric" for the ingredient weights) or sift/stir to break the flour up. Lightly spoon into a measuring cup and level. Packing the flour will give you dense, heavy biscuits.
Granulated sugar: The little bit of sugar helps to balance out the biscuits.
Butter: I use salted butter. If using unsalted butter, increase the salt to 3/4 teaspoon. You may also want additional melted butter or butter and honey at the end to brush on the baked biscuits.