Easy Buttermilk Biscuits from The Prairie Homestead Cookbook

"Food has a supernatural way of bringing humans together. It's meant to be appreciated, celebrated, and savored. Even the tiniest apartment kitchen can create farmhouse-worthy food and bring a taste of the homestead to the city. It's very possible, and extremely delicious."

- Jill Winger

Welcome to our kitchen! One of Kaia's favorite recipes is these delicious, fluffy, and easy buttermilk biscuits. We made them for her 7th birthday breakfast and they're a big hit with all the kids.

Want to learn the best recipe for buttermilk biscuits? You'll find a free recipe for pre-readers and up at the bottom or you can use the table of contents to skip to it.

Learn more about cooking with kids.

If you like this recipe, you should try the apple molasses pie, bannocks, Ukrainian bread, turmeric & nigella seed bread, Puerto Rican breakfast bread, and butternut squash donuts.

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The Prairie Homestead Cookbook

This recipe for easy buttermilk biscuits comes from The Prairie Homestead Cookbook: Simple Recipes for Heritage Cooking in Any Kitchen by Jill Winger and is titled Sky-High Buttermilk Biscuits.

This cookbook is an excellent resource for any home cook or aspiring homesteader. The recipes are easy-to-follow with simple ingredients, yet you're not sacrificing flavor.

You'll learn so much about your food, as well as overall meal preparation tips and techniques through the use of this cookbook, that you'll feel like a more well-rounded home cook as you make your way through the recipes.

And as was mentioned earlier, you don't need a farm to produce farmhouse-worthy food for your family with the help of this cookbook.

You can find more cooking-from-scratch inspiration and homestead mentoring tips from Jill Winger at The Prairie Homestead or try this free recipe for homemade french fries.

Have you ever made drop biscuits?

Stop by our shop to see more Family & Kids' Cooking Resources.

What is Buttermilk?

According to my old but still classic copy of Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Companion:

Traditionally, buttermilk is the liquid left behind when butter is churned from cream. Today, most buttermilk is a cultured product made by adding bacteria to skimmed milk (or sometimes whole milk) to convert the sugars to acids. Cultured buttermilk is thick - sometimes even bits of butter are added to give it more body and add an old-fashioned appearance - and it tastes tangy. Your great-grandmother would never recognize it as the buttermilk she remembers from the days when she was a young girl.

- Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Companion

Why Use Buttermilk in Biscuits?

Buttermilk acts as a leavening agent in this recipe, which allows the dough to expand and causes the biscuits to be fluffy, or sky-high in the case of these biscuits.

What if I Don't Have Buttermilk for Biscuits?

No buttermilk? No problem. As Jill Winger states in The Prairie Homestead Cookbook:

If you open your refrigerator in the midst of making these biscuits only to discover you're out of cultured buttermilk, you can mix up this quick substitute instead: Put 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar in a 2-cup measuring cup, then fill with milk to the 1 ½-cup line. Stir until you see small curdled bits on your spoon, then add to the recipe.

- Jill Winger

The cookbook is filled with useful tips like this to keep you moving effortlessly through your meal prep.

Wondering What to Eat Buttermilk Biscuits With?

We like to enjoy ours with eggs and these scrambled eggs are the perfect recipe for kids.

The Prairie Homestead cookbook also has an Old-Fashioned Sausage Gravy recipe for making the best homemade biscuits and gravy.

Baked eggs, breakfast sausage, homemade bacon. Did someone say fried chicken? The options are endless when you're creating in the kitchen.

These easy buttermilk biscuits can complement many of your favorite recipes or you can combine them with new favorites from the cookbook.

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients

• flour - we prefer to bake with all-purpose einkorn. Einkorn is an ancient grain that is easy to work with, tastes excellent, and is a healthy option.
• baking powder
• salt - we like to use pink Himalayan salt
• stevia - this stevia & erythritol blend tastes just a bit sweeter than sugar. You can also use sugar
• butter - unsalted butter is preferred for this recipe
• buttermilk - see above if you need a substitute for buttermilk

Tools

• prep bowls
• kitchen scale
• measuring spoons
• measuring cup
• mixer or pastry blender
• mason jar or biscuit cutter
• silicone baking mat
• baking slab
• learning tower (as needed)

1. Gather the Equipment & Ingredients

Wash your hands with soap and water. Gather the equipment and ingredients needed for making these easy buttermilk biscuits.

Feel free to throw on your apron. Our kids opted out on this day. The apron cannot save us when it comes to working with flour so we usually don't bother.

This is an excellent time to introduce or review the buttons on the scale before getting started.

2. Weigh the Flour

Use the kitchen scale to weigh the flour as you transfer it into a large bowl. Kaia helps stabilize the jar while Katalina scoops out the flour.

3. Measure the Baking Powder, Salt, and Stevia

Use a measuring spoon to measure the baking powder, salt, and stevia for making these easy buttermilk biscuits.

4. Add the Butter and Buttermilk

Transfer the ingredients to a mixer. You can also use a pastry blender for this step.

Add the butter. You can cut the butter into smaller chunks or cubes as you add it to the mixer.

Turn the mixer on low and combine until the dough appears crumbly. Add the buttermilk and turn off the mixer when combined. Do not overmix the dough.

5. Create Dough Rounds With a Glass or Biscuit Cutter

Turn the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Transfer the dough to a clean work surface. We use a large silicone baking mat. Add flour as needed.

Kids can experiment with the dough by patting it to different heights or thicknesses before cutting it into rounds.

Use a glass jar (or a biscuit cutter if you have one) to create the rounds. Kids can use their fingers or a butter knife to remove the excess dough and add it to the next round.

If your kids enjoy working with clay or other art materials, then they will love making these easy buttermilk biscuits.

6. Transfer to a Baking Slab

Transfer the rounds to a baking slab or baking sheet.

7. Bake in the Oven for 12 to 14 Minutes

Place the baking slab in the oven. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the biscuits are lightly browned.

Remove the baking slab from the oven and turn off the oven. Serve warm.

On this day, we enjoyed our buttered biscuits with farm-fresh eggs, orange slices, and a glass of milk. Try them with the parmesan basil butter.

Free Easy Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe for Pre-Readers and Up

Grab your free printable recipe cards above. Kids can gather ingredients using the ingredient list, gather their equipment with the tools list, and prepare the biscuits using the step-by-step recipe cards, with assistance as needed.

The cards are easy to use, include pictures, and encourage confidence and independence in the kitchen. They also make an excellent addition to your Montessori continent box for North America.