Buttermilk Biscuits, Gluten Free
Tall, golden biscuits with layers you can peel apart like a book, thanks to cold butter and a few quick folds. They come together in one bowl and bake in about fifteen minutes.
Ingredients
Makes 8 biscuits
Dough
Finishing
Instructions
- 1
Chill the butter and heat the oven
Cube the cold butter and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes while you get everything else ready. Heat the oven to 425°F with a rack in the upper third, and line a sheet pan with parchment. Cold butter is the whole game here: those solid pieces melt in the oven and leave behind steam pockets, which is what gives you layers.
- 2
Whisk the dry ingredients
In a large bowl, whisk the gluten-free flour blend, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda together for a good 20 seconds. Check your blend's label first: if it already lists xanthan gum or guar gum, skip the xanthan entirely. If it doesn't, whisk in the full 1 1/4 teaspoons now so it disperses evenly instead of forming slick clumps later.
- 3
Work in the butter
Add the frozen butter cubes and toss them in the flour so every piece is coated. Using your fingertips or a pastry cutter, press and flatten the butter into the flour until you have coarse crumbs mixed with flat, irregular pieces about the size of a nickel. Stop while you can still see distinct butter. Work quickly so your hands don't warm things up.
- 4
Add the buttermilk
Pour in the cold buttermilk all at once and stir with a fork just until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Gluten-free dough won't look or feel like wheat dough — expect it to be noticeably softer and stickier, closer to a thick drop-biscuit batter at this stage. Resist adding extra flour to fix that; the starches haven't absorbed the liquid yet.
- 5
Rest the dough
Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 25 minutes. This is the step that makes or breaks gluten-free biscuits: the rice and starch flours need time to drink up the buttermilk, and skipping it leaves you with a gritty, sandy crumb. The chill also re-firms the butter. The dough will be visibly thicker and much easier to handle when you come back to it.
- 6
Fold for layers
Turn the dough onto a counter dusted with gluten-free flour and press it into a rough 1-inch-thick rectangle. Fold it in thirds like a letter, rotate 90 degrees, and press out again. Repeat three more times — fewer folds than a wheat dough, since there's no gluten to protect and extra handling just breaks the dough up. Flour your hands lightly if it clings.
- 7
Cut the biscuits
Pat the dough to an even 3/4-inch thickness. Dip a 2 1/2-inch cutter in flour and press straight down, then lift straight up without twisting. Cut as close together as you can. The scraps will be more fragile than wheat dough, so press them back together gently rather than kneading, and bake those first.
- 8
Bake
Arrange the biscuits on the sheet pan with their sides just barely touching. Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with flaky salt if using. Bake 16 to 19 minutes — a few minutes longer than wheat biscuits, because gluten-free dough holds more moisture and underbaked centers turn gummy as they cool. Look for a deep golden top and sides that feel firm and set, not springy. Let them cool at least 10 minutes on the pan before splitting; they firm up considerably as they cool and will crumble if you rush it.
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Baker's Tips
- 1.
If your kitchen is warm and the dough starts feeling greasy or sticky at any point, slide the whole thing onto a plate and chill it for 10 minutes. Cold dough is always worth the pause.
- 2.
Grating frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater is the fastest route to evenly distributed pieces if you find cutting in butter fiddly.
- 3.
No buttermilk? Stir 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 cup of whole milk and let it sit 10 minutes. It won't be quite as thick or tangy, but it works.
- 4.
For even taller biscuits, chill the cut rounds on the sheet pan for 20 minutes before baking. The butter re-firms and the rise is noticeably better.
- 5.
Measure flour by spooning it into the cup and leveling, or better, weigh it. Scooping straight from the bag can pack in an extra 20 to 30 grams and dry out the dough.