Ever since my husband found out he was gluten-intolerant back in 2015 I’ve been on a mission to perfect a Southern ClassicTM – The Buttermilk biscuit.  For years, its flakey goodness has been shrouded in mystery.  Will I ever get my dough to puff up? I need it to stick to the sides of my mouth like those coveted at Popeye’s.  This biscuit isn’t perfect, but it comes pretty darn close.

Rest assured, as I keep finding and experimenting with new recipes – another iteration will appear here. The Gluten-Free Buttermilk Biscuit is my white whale.

Watch us create this recipe on YouTube

INGREDIENTS

2 cups Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour

1 ½ tsp Bob’s Red Mill Xanthan Gum (or other Xanthan Gum)

1 tbsp gluten-free baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 cup buttermilk

6 tbsp unsalted butter

1 large egg

*keep your flour handy to sprinkle across a surface for folding the dough

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat your oven to 450. In a large bowl combine all of your dry ingredients. Chop up your butter into cubes and work into the dry batter.  You want to keep your butter chilled during this process; you can use two forks to work the butter into the dry mix until it has a “cornmeal” consistency. 

Whisk your egg and buttermilk together in a separate container before combining it into your dry mixture. I would recommend using a spatula over a whisk to mix everything together.  This dough will be very sticky and wet, but once it’s completely combined roll it out onto your GF floured surface. 

The key to a good GF Buttermilk biscuit is not over-manipulating the dough.  Instead of kneading the dough you just need to fold it over on itself about 3 times. I also do not recommend using a rolling pin.  Flatten the dough down to about an inch thickness and using a biscuit cutter (or a the top of a glass if you’re lazy like me) cut out all of your biscuits.  Be careful not to twist as this can also over-manipulate the dough and mess with your rise.

Place all of your biscuits onto a baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick spray.  Fold your dough back over once and finish creating as many biscuits as possible but note these will probably not rise as much since you’ve folded the dough again. Nevertheless, waste not the dough.

Finally, bake your biscuits just above the center of the oven racks for about 15 – 20 minutes.  My oven runs a little warm so 15 minutes seems to work well for me. Grab your jam and God speed!   

If you’re looking for variations of this recipe, check out Mama Knows Gluten-Free’s recipe!

• Much love! - Hallease