by Texas Homesteader ~
These fluffy, moist, flavorful biscuits are filled with buttery goodness and simple ingredients. A family favorite! Wonder what the secret is for soft & moist biscuits? Check out my recipe.
Dry Biscuits Of The Past
I’ve struggled with biscuit recipes since, well, FOREVER! No matter what ‘guaranteed recipe‘ I try the biscuits always seem heavy & dry.
But as is tradition I promised to make RancherMan whatever he wanted for his birthday breakfast recently. And his request was (of course) homemade biscuits and gravy, along with a generous supply of thick-cut heavily peppered crispy bacon.
Back to my recipe I went with a sigh. He deserved better! My previous attempts just didn’t seem to have enough flavor. And the biscuits were heavy and dry.
But determined to provide my beloved RancherMan the meal he requested and deserved, I tweaked the recipe once again. And the biscuits turned out absolutely DELICIOUS. Flavorful, moist and fluffy. EUREKA!
Simple Biscuit Ingredients
My biscuit ingredients are basic kitchen staples. First I gathered my dry ingredients:
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- 4 cups of all-purpose flour,
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda,
- 2 Tablespoons baking powder,
- 5 Tablespoons sugar,
- 2 teaspoons salt
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I mixed all those dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then I turned my attention to cooking RancherMan’s bacon.
While the bacon was draining on a newspaper-lined plate I thought,
“Hummm… BACON GREASE!“
Baker’s Note: The first secret of moist biscuits is to include enough fat. No, biscuits are not a health food that’s true. But in moderation they’re a delicious addition to breakfast
To make biscuits moist, it takes fat. Without enough fat your biscuits are probably destined to be dry & crumbly. Same as the biscuits of my younger early-cook years. Not this time!
So I continued with my biscuit recipe & into my dry ingredients I added:
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- 1 stick of butter, softened & cut into cubes,
- 4 Tablespoons of cooled bacon grease.
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I mixed it all with my clean hands since I like to get the butter into small pea-sized chunks without making them too small.
Baker’s Note: The second secret to moist biscuits is to leave small pea-sized orbs of butter in the batter. That helps keep those biscuits moist as they’re baking.
Finally I combined the wet ingredients to my biscuit butter:
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- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup of my homemade unflavored yogurt
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I blended the two together thoroughly & transferred the wet mixture into my dry ingredients.
After mixing everything I plopped the dough onto my floured counter top.
I kneaded the dough for about a minute and then put the whole ball of dough back in the bowl. The bowl was covered loosely and put it in the fridge until I finished cooking RancherMan’s breakfast – about 20 minutes.
That stint in the fridge gets the dough cold again and makes it easier to handle.
Preparing Homemade Biscuits
After my bacon was cooked I poured off most of the grease and kept just enough to coat the bottom of my cast-iron skillet.
I retained the excess bacon grease of course for other uses!
Then I brought the biscuit dough out of the fridge & patted it down into about 3/4″ thickness. The scientific reason I chose that thickness is because that was about as thick as my vintage biscuit cutter would go through. LOL.
I cut those biscuits quickly and dropped them into my still-hot cast-iron skillet. They even sizzled slightly when the dough hit the hot grease.
Finally I put them into the oven that had been preheated to 450 degrees and set the timer for 12 minutes.
Leftover Biscuit Dough Can Be A Sweet Treat!
Typically this recipe leaves me with just a little biscuit dough after the biscuits are cut. But what to do with the leftover biscuit dough?
Oh I used to come up with clever ways to add a handful of more biscuits in the oven to bake along with the ones in the skillet. Maybe a small metal pan or some foil to hold the 3-4 extra biscuit’s dough.
But that was then, this is now.
Now RancherMan MUCH prefers me to use that leftover dough to make cinnamon rolls. I roll out the extra dough into a rectangle & add softened butter/cinnamon/sugar. Then I roll the dough into a log & cut it into discs.
Into a CorningWare baking dish it goes before I place a small pat of butter on each roll. Then I slide it into the oven alongside the biscuits.
If you want to see the recipe and procedure you can go to my Cinnamon Rolls post to check it out.
In any event, the cinnamon rolls bake along with the other biscuits for a sweet treat after breakfast. RancherMan LOVES THESE!
Now that everything is in the oven I set my timer. Since my biscuits were so thick I pulled them out after that 12 minutes and brushed them with a little melted butter and placed them back in the oven for about 2 more minutes.
By that time they were golden brown and I pulled them out and awaited that delightful aroma of homemade buttery biscuits to waft through the house to RancherMan. It didn’t take long!
So he enjoyed his special-request breakfast and was well pleased. I’m so happy that I’ve finally been able to amend my recipe to make a delicious fluffy & moist biscuit.
And I’m pleased to share that recipe with you now:
Did you make these biscuits? Please rate the recipe in your comment below!
Homemade Country-Style Buttermilk Biscuits
I’m so happy that I’ve finally been able to tweak my recipe to make a delicious fluffy & moist biscuit. And I’m pleased to share that recipe with you now. Bacon grease is the secret ingredient. Shhhhh....
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 Tablespoons baking powder
- 5 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 stick softened butter
- 1/4 cup fat of choice (bacon grease, lard, shortening, etc.)
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup unflavored yogurt
Instructions
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Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and cut the softened butter and the additional fat of choice (bacon grease, lard, shortening, etc) into cubes and with your clean fingertips mash the chunks with the flour until they are only about the size of small peas.
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Add buttermilk and yogurt and mix lightly but thoroughly. The dough should be soft, but not sticky. (If the dough is too dry add a few drops of milk, if it is sticky dust with a little extra flour.) When the dough is soft but not sticky cover the dough in a mixing bowl and place in refrigerator to cool for about 20 minutes.
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After 20 minutes in the fridge preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place cast-iron skillet in oven to begin heating. Roll the biscuit dough to about 3/4″ thick on a lightly floured surface and use biscuit cutter (or drinking glass if you want larger biscuits) to cut out the dough.
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Bring the hot cast-iron skillet from the oven and place cut biscuits in the skillet and return the skillet to the oven, baking for about 12 minutes (depending upon how thickly you cut the biscuits.)
~TxH~
This post categorized in 
Tagged in COOKING 
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Do you grease the cast iron skillet before adding the biscuits? And, could sour cream be substituted for the plain yogurt? Looking forward to making and freezing these for an upcoming RV trip!
All I can say is…. * KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE BALL PARK .. Ding Dang Rancher Man should be putting a LIP LOCK on YOU for these Scrumptious looking Morsels of Heavenly Delight Ready for Consumption.
Going to save this one and give them a try after I loose 10 pounds.
Thanks … TMR
Do you freeze a ny when you make them? What size skillet do you use? Thank you
I have frozen both the cut, raw biscuits as well as baked biscuits, Teresa. They freeze and thaw beautifully. And I use various cast-iron skillets – I guess they’re mostly 10″? But depending upon how thickly you cut them, they often don’t all fit in the skillet anyway. I do one of two things: Either place remaining cut biscuits on a small baking sheet & bake them alongside the ones in the cast-iron skillet (or freeze them as mentioned above) or, RancherMan’s Fave – sweeten the leftover dough with cinnamon/sugar, cut into rounds, top with melted butter & more cinnamon sugar & make little cinnamon rolls out of them. OMGosh they’re delicious! Here’s the recipe –> https://texashomesteader.com/biscuit-dough-cinnamon-rolls/
Well this just confirms I need a cast iron skillet! Thanks for sharing this recipe, bacon grease is the BOMB!!!!
My grandmother always used a cast iron skillet for biscuits and coated the top and bottom of each biscuit with hot melted bacon grease…..you’ve just brought me a wonderful memory!
So yummy! I just made these–the bacon grease in the cast iron—Oh my! Melted butter on top and the last few minutes baked with the heat off, perfect! First one out of the pan into my mouth. Second one with local Amish butter, third with local honey. 4th and 5th, honey and butter!
Can you tell I like them!?! Not sure any will be left by lunchtime!
Thank you for all the awesome recipes, tips, and ideas! :o)
I tried making some drop biscuits the other day. They turned out like flat cookies, but they worked for the sausage gravy. Yours look really yummy and bacon – double yum! Thanks for sharing.
for little extra flavor these might also be good adding some crushed herbs; maybe some basil, oregano, rosemary, or thyme or whatever. Herb biscuits, I just may have to give them a try next time.
Gosh, I just made homemade biscuits the other day; adding some diced green bell pepper along with fresh shredded cheddar cheese to the mix.
They sure do look like delicious biscuits! Thank you for sharing your recipe. I also have never been able to do the flakey biscuit thing. They are usually hockey pucks so I had given up. I will try your tips and recipe next time! Thank you for sharing on the Art of Home-Making Mondays this week!
Going to try this today or tomorrow. 1/2 batch and use a smaller Lodge iron pan in the countertop convection oven. I can’t seem to control the temp in the stove’s oven. Never made bisquits, so we’ll see what happens…
My biscuits were always dry, John – but this recipe makes RancherMan smack his lips. For me the secret was not crumbling the butter/grease too small – no smaller than pea sized. And not to bake them too long, over-baking makes them dry. AND, well, you know – the biggest difference was the bacon-grease thing… 😉 Let me know how ya like ’em!
Those biscuits sound delicious! As a southern girl I am almost ashamed to say I have not made homemade biscuits since I was a little girl. This reciepe sounds so good, I may have to make them very soon!
Oh dear, I’m in trouble. 🙂 Irresistible.
G’day!
Your biscuits look great! I have never thought of baking in cast iron. That makes a difference, I am sure. I’m going to try that the next time I make biscuits. Loads of creamy gravy is a favorite at our house too. Must be a guy thing! 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
I made biscuits using your recipe a few days ago. My family said they were the best I’ve ever made. I even froze some for later. Thank you for sharing, this recipe is a new family favorite.
Them are some mighty good look’n biscuits.
These would be good with sausage gravy over the top. Yum
Thanks for sharing your recipe. It’s a keeper for sure
Those look awesome, I’m going to have to try them. The hubby is on a bacon, egg biscuit kick lately. I make up 5 or 6 at a time and keep them in the fridge wrapped in waxed paper and then in a zip bag. He pops them in the microwave just before he leaves for work. He even bought me the cutest little 3 1/2 inch Lodge iron skillets to cook the eggs in, they cook a single egg to the perfect size to fit a biscuit. So cute and perfect.
Oh! I can smell them from here. Drooling now. You make them just like I like them “thick.”
Yes ma’am Carol – I make them as thick as my cutter will allow! ~TxH~
Wow! Those are some gorgeous biscuit….now, can you make those low-carb!!!!! 🙂
LOL Donna – or low calorie! That’s why we don’t eat biscuits often but when we do I’ll make ’em right! ~TxH~