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!
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I managed to impress myself with the sucess using this recipe. These were the flakiest, fluffiest and yet crunchiest buscuits I’ve ever made.
Hi Kim! Thank you for your note and giving the biscuits a go!
These biscuits were so good, I baked them crispy on the outside and tender in the middle. Easy too!
Hi Shey! Thank you for your note and giving the recipe a go!
I love this recipe. I have made it several times before. My mom family loves these biscuits.
Hi Wendy! Best news ever! Thank you for your note and review.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! No more store bought biscuits for this family, a favorite with everyone. I substitute half the milk with kefir instead of using ACV.
Was wondering if you tried using bread flour. I’m curious what difference there would be in the taste and/or texture?
Best news ever! Thank you for your note, Lara! Subbing ACV with kefir sounds delicious. I’ve not made these with bread flour, but suspect the biscuits to be chewier, not as tender due to the higher protein content in bread flour. Let us know if you give it a go!
Can you long ferment the dough overnight or a couple hours before baking?
Hi Megan! Although I’ve not tried it, I wouldn’t hesitate keeping the dough in the fridge overnight or a few hours for a long ferment. Be sure they’re wrapped tightly! I hope you love them!
I made a gluten free version of these biscuits by using my mature GF starter, which I feed with either superfine brown rice or sorghum flours. I subbed Cup4Cup GF flour for the AP flour in this recipe. These biscuits turned out great and rose so high with beautiful flaky layers! I baked 4 for my small family and put the rest in a freezer bag to bake from frozen for fresh biscuits whenever we want them. Yum!
Planning to try the recipe for the cranberry orange sourdough scones next with the same GF substitutions.
Hiii Melissa! Thank you for sharing your success with us and your tips! I bet they tasted amazing! Can’t wait to hear about the scones. Please keep us posted!
Can you use discard from day 3 of the starter?
Hi Monisha! I would wait until your starter is fully developed simply because I don’t think the flavor would be favorable. I hope this helps!
These are INCREDIBLE! And so easy to make. I didn’t cut the biscuits out, I just rolled the dough into a rectangle and then pre-scored/sliced the dough into squares before baking and they came out perfect and so easy to pull apart!
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us, definitely going to be a staple in our house!
SO happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe, Amanda! Thank you for sharing your tips about the pull apart biscuits (droooling!) !
Amanda, Your suggestion of scoring the dough instead of using a buscuit cutter is such a time saver. Thank you for such a brillant idea!
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.
SO happy to hear Andrea! Oh myyyy a stash in the freezer at all times is such a delight! Thank you for your note and recipe rating :D
Love these biscuits! I use the vegan variety with earth Balance buttery sticks and soy milk. I made them as drop biscuits the first time, second time cut with my pastry knife. Also, the second time, I added jalapeños, scallions, and a little nutritional yeast for a vegan jalapeño cheese biscuit- divine. Thank you!!!
Hi Kate! Thank you for your note and sharing your mouthwatering tips. Hooray for delicious vegan sourdough biscuits! I gotta give those drop biscuits a go :D