Drop Biscuits
Simple buttermilk biscuits dropped from a spoon in rough mounds and baked at 220C for 15 minutes, without any rolling or cutting.
Photograph credit: Mmm... buttermilk drop biscuit peanut butter sammich (5209296415) by jeffreyw · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The Method for Drop Biscuits
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Heat the oven to 220°C / 430°F and line a tray.
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Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Toss in the grated butter.
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Pour in the buttermilk and stir with a fork until the flour is just moistened.
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Scoop 10 mounds onto the tray, 4 cm apart.
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Bake for 15 minutes until golden. Brush with the melted butter and serve warm.
What Can Go Wrong
- Grate the butter while frozen.
- Stir the dough as little as possible.
- Bake immediately after mixing.
Ingredient Swaps
- Out of buttermilk? The usual stand-in is a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar stirred into 250 ml of ordinary milk and left five minutes; it is thinner than cultured buttermilk, so a batter may need a little less of it.
Good to Know About Drop Biscuits
Flour, butter, buttermilk, baking powder: four things you already own, and about 25 minutes. Drop biscuits are the shortcut version of the Southern classic, made from a wetter dough that is simply spooned onto a tray. There is no rolling, no folding and no cutter to wash.
The craggy tops are the attraction. The rough surface of each mound catches the heat and browns into crisp peaks, while the inside stays soft and layered. The dough has more liquid than a rolled one, which gives steam in the oven and a lighter result, though not the neat layers of a cut biscuit.
Use very cold butter, grated. Freeze the butter for 15 minutes, then grate it on the coarse side of a box grater straight into the flour. The shreds distribute through the dough quickly without being warmed by your fingers, and melt in the oven to leave pockets of steam.
Stir in the buttermilk just until the flour is moistened, and no more. The dough will look lumpy and sticky, which is how it should be. Scoop with a large spoon or an ice cream scoop onto a lined tray and bake straight away, since baking powder starts to work the moment it is wet.
On the Table Alongside
Sausage gravy · Butter and honey · Fried chicken · Bacon and egg
Leftovers
Best the day they are made. Reheat for 5 minutes at 180°C / 356°F.
What's in a Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.
First published ; last changed .
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