Ready in under an hour, my fresh, and buttery classic homemade sourdough biscuits recipe comes together with just 25 minutes of hands on time. Made with simple ingredients plus sourdough discard, bake and enjoy right away or store in the freezer overnight (or longer). These biscuits go from freezer to oven for ultimate easy! Buttery, soft, light and fluffy, these are the star at the breakfast table.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reader Review: “This is my go to recipe for biscuits. I keep a stash of them in my freezer at all times. They bake up perfectly two at a time from frozen in my toaster oven for fresh biscuits several days a week.” ~ Andrea
Classic Sourdough Discard Biscuits
A quintessential comfort food, sourdough biscuits truly are a simple food. They’re made with basic ingredients like flour, butter, milk (sometimes buttermilk) and salt.
The wow factor in this recipe comes from the sourdough discard incorporated into the dough. So hang on to that discard! It’s a practical way to use up sourdough discard, if you keep it on hand, tucked away in the back of the refrigerator.
Discard is delicious incorporated into biscuits, but also Fluffy Sourdough Banana Muffins, Classic Sourdough Pancakes with Buttermilk, Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies and more!
This Recipe Is
- tender and flaky
- rustic
- easy to make
If you make homemade sourdough discard recipes, you’ll love the ease and convenience of these classic biscuits.
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How to Make Sourdough Discard Biscuits
step by step
tip: When cutting your biscuits, press the cutter down, then pull it straight back up. Avoid twisting the biscuit cutter. A clean, straight cut helps the biscuits rise to their full potential.
Things for Slathering And Drizzling
I love a good seasonal slather on biscuits. Aside from a delicious prepared strawberry jam, I make these recipes for biscuits when fresh and in season:
- Easy Rhubarb Freezer Jam
- Homemade Pumpkin Butter
- Easy Blueberry Compote
- Honey – look for local and if possible at the farmers market
- Rhubarb Maple Conserve
Traci’s Tips
- More Tangy Flavor (buttermilkish): To boost the sourness of these biscuits, and to DIY buttermilk, add two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar into the milk and sourdough discard mixture.
- Vegan / Dairy Free Sourdough Biscuits: Yes Please! Use vegan butter (I tested this recipe with salted Earth Balance) and reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. Also, use plant milk. I use homemade unsweetened cashew milk.
- Need a Sourdough Starter? I have a how to make a Sourdough Starter blog post with everything you need to know to get started.
Fresh Homemade Sourdough Discard Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (155 grams) Sourdough Discard, 100% hydration
- 1 cup (230 grams) Whole Milk, (*see note for plant milk)
- 2 3/4 cups (420 grams) Unbleached All Purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoons Organic Cane Sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder, non aluminum
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Fine Sea Salt
- 1 1/2 Sticks (175 grams / 3/4 cup) Unsalted Butter, cold, just from the fridge, cut into 1/2" pieces (*see note for plant butter)
Instructions
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside. Make room in the freezer for the sheet pan.
- In a spouted measuring cup add sourdough discard, milk and optional apple cider vinegar. Whisk. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and soda. To the flour mixture, add cold butter. I like using my hands here, but a fork or pastry cutter may be used instead. Start incorporating the butter pinching and mashing the butter pieces in between your fingers, working quickly so the butter stays cold. The point is to coat the butter in flour, pinching and tossing the pieces. Once the flour and butter is incorporated, there should be small (pea size) and larger pieces (almond size) of butter remaining, coated in flour. If the butter starts to melt, put the whole bowl in the freezer for about 10 minutes to firm the butter back up.
- Make a well in the center of the flour/butter mixture and pour in the sourdough starter/milk mixture, reserving a few tablespoons. Gently mix, scooping up, folding and pressing the dough. Add the remaining milk and incorporate it into the dough if the mixture seems a little dry.
- Once the dough forms a cohesive mass, flour your work surface and turn the dough out. Flour the top of the dough and knead it a few times (folding and pressing) until a cohesive dough forms. Use your bench scraper to help manage all the bits. Pat and form the dough into a round. Lightly flour the top again and use a rolling pin or pat the dough out into about a 3/4" (1.9cm) thick disk. Cut the biscuits with a 2 1/2" (6.3cm) biscuit cutter (cut straight down and back up – no twisting) and transfer them to the parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Freeze the biscuits for at least 15 minutes. *Note* At this point the biscuits can be frozen solid, and held in a lidded container for up to three weeks. Bake partially frozen and completely frozen biscuits the same, straight from the freezer.
- While the biscuits are in the freezer, preheat the oven to 375F (190C) and arrange a rack in the center of the oven. Bake the biscuits straight from the freezer on a parchment lined sheet pan for 17-19 minutes until golden and the internal temperature read on a digital food thermometer is between 190F-200F when done (87C-93C). Share warm, right out of the oven.
- Store baked biscuits at room temperature in a covered container for up to two days or in the freezer for up to three weeks. Biscuits are best right out of the oven, but if needed, they can be gently reheated at 350F (175C) for about 10-15 minutes. Wrap in foil when reheating to retain their softness.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate. If this information is important to you, please have it verified independently.
Made it? Leave a comment below!
The most helpful comment may include recipe rating, feedback, any modifications or helping other commentors.
Thank you for creating a recipe with 1/2 cup of starter and not 1 whole cup!! I was searching and searching this morning because I only had 1/2 a cup! They’re in the oven right now!
Hooray! So happy to hear Morgan! I hope you enjoy the biscuits!
Do you have to freeze them before bake?
Really good recipe: so much flavor.
Thank you for your note, Rachel! So happy to hear!
Gave this recipe a try the other night when I had extra leaven left over (isn’t that considered discard?). My husband declared that if I wasn’t already married, he would propose. And he placed a request for me to make a huge batch and freeze. Thanks for the great recipe.
Hi Amy! I LOL when I read your note! So happy to hear y’all are enjoying the recipe. Extra leaven = discard! You got it! Thank you for your note and here’s to a HUGE batch next time! lol!
These look delicious, I was wondering what flours you would recommend to make these gluten free?
Hi H! Thank you for your note. You’d first have to start with a GF sourdough starter, then start experimenting! Maybe try a GF 1-1 flour instead of regular AP flour. Sounds like I need to develop a GF sourdough biscuit recipe!
Yes would love to see a GF biscuit recipe!
Hi Meghan … thank you for your note! I’m working on it! ;D
These were delicious! I love that they can be baked from frozen. Would like to play around with my gluten free starter with these!
Hi Mariah! SO happy to hear! Thank you for your note, giving the recipe a go and rating! Keep us posted with your experiments. I’m inspired :D
My first attempt at biscuits using my sourdough starter was successful, but time intensive. I’m sure it was a combination of my slow mixing and my texting my sister who was admitting Mom into hospital, but I’ll try it again & see if it speeds up! Gluten free biscuits, Yeah! Oh, and I froze 2 dozen, so that’ll be a great time saver!
I took pictures, but can’t copy them here. 😋 🤨
Hi Catina! So you made gluten free biscuits with this recipe? We’d love to hear what flour you used and any modifications you made! I hope your mom is okay ❤️
One other question, do you use your starter straight from the fridge or do you feed first? Thanks
Hi Trish! Use starter straight from the fridge.
thanks so much, I have just started using sour dough . I appreciate the help.
Can you use buttermilk for the milk?
Hi Trish… while I’ve not tried it, I wouldn’t hesitate using it. Hold out a few tablespoons and if the dough feels like it could use a bit more hydration, add it. I hope this helps and you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Trish – I always use buttermilk (leave out the lemon juice). I’ve also had to resort to using self-rising flour (I’m in SC – there was one Lilly White Flour on the shelf; try to reserve some of my all purpose) and that worked just fine as well – still light and tasty 😋
Hi Lalita! Thank you for your note and sharing your tips. So happy you’re enjoying the biscuits!
Why do you have “sourdough discard”? If you only feed the starter with the amount of starter you’ll need for the recipe, then there’s never any discard. I save about a quarter cup of starter and if I need 200 grams of starter, I add 100 grams flour and 100 grams water. No discard.
Hi Joy! Thank you for your note. I use discard to add flavor to all kinds of recipes, when not relying on a ‘ripe’ starter for leavening. So, I always make a little more starter than I need and store it in the fridge until I’m ready to make pancakes, waffles, or crackers for example. That way I always have some discard on hand, and I don’t have to wait for a starter to ripen when I need a bit quickly. You can use your regular starter for this recipe, just stir your starter down, if you like. This recipe is simply the way I manage my starter and recipe. I hope this helps!