Fresh Homemade Sourdough Discard Biscuits

Fresh Homemade Sourdough Discard Biscuits

Ready in under an hour, my fresh, and buttery classic homemade sourdough biscuits recipe comes together with just 25 minutes of hands on time. 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. This recipe is vegetarian and easily vegan.

Course Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine American

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Keyword Sourdough Biscuit Recipe, Sourdough Discard Biscuits

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 19

Freezer Time 15

Total Time 59

Servings 2 1/2" Biscuits

Calories 225kcal

Author Traci York

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

*Make it Vegan: For plant milk, I use unsweetened Homemade Cashew Milk because it's rich, similar to whole milk. If using store-bought plant milks in cartons, they're mostly water, lacking in fat. Because of this the biscuits tend to lean over a bit when baking. For plant butter I tested this recipe with Earth Balance: some vegan butters has added salt, so use only 1/4 tsp in the recipe if the butter you’re using is salted.

Kitchen Tools: I recommend an oven thermometer, food thermometer and weighing your ingredients using a digital kitchen scale for best outcome. Use the scoop and sweep method for volume measurements if a scale is unavailable.

Recipe inspired by The Grand Central Baking Book.

Nutrition