If you're craving fluffy, tender buttermilk biscuits with hundreds of flaky, buttery layers, stop right here.

Here's how to make homemade buttermilk biscuits that are soft on the inside, slightly crispy on the outside, and rise to impressive heights with layer after delicious layer.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

"Thank you for the awesome biscuit recipe. Biscuits are a weakness of mine. I have never baked mine in a cast iron skillet before. Genius! I love the crispy bottom and all the tender flaky layers. Yum. These will be sharing the same plate with some country sausage gravy. Again Yum. Thank you Rebecca!!" -KC

What is the secret to light, flaky super tall biscuits? I'm so glad you asked. The most important things you need to know about making tall, flaky biscuits with hundreds of layers are:

1. Butter is better. If you want soft, crumbly, cake-like biscuits, use vegetable shortening. If you want aaaalllll the flaky layers, use butter. Butter contains water (about 18%) which evaporates quickly in a hot oven, leaving delicious, flaky layers in its wake.
2. Use Buttermilk. The acid in buttermilk not only makes biscuits that are light and tender, it works with the leaveners in the dough (baking powder and baking soda) to help them rise and rise, and rise some more. In a pinch, you can use one of these methods to make homemade buttermilk.
3. Bake the biscuits close together. To help the biscuits rise to their maximum potential, place them in the pan very close together so that their sides are touching. As they bake, the biscuits have nowhere to go but up, and will use each other to climb to new heights.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

Recipe: Buttermilk Biscuits

For step-by-step photos showing how to make these biscuits plus more biscuit making tips and tricks, please see the original recipe: Buttermilk Biscuits

• 1 ½ sticks (6oz/ 170g) cold salted butter + 2 tablespoon (1oz/ 28g) melted butter for brushing over the top of the biscuits
• 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup (94g) cake flour (not self-rising)
• 2 teaspoon (8g) baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon (1.5g) baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoon (25g) sugar
• 1 cup (236ml) cold buttermilk

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F (218 degrees C). Rub the inside of a cast iron skillet with a bit of vegetable oil or melted shortening. This will create a deliciously crispy bottom on the biscuits. (*You can also bake these in a baking dish. See note below.)
2. Cut the butter into small ½-inch pieces, put them on a plate or in a bowl, and pop it into the freezer for about 10 minutes. You want the butter to be very cold, but not frozen.
3. Put the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor OR in a mixing bowl. Pulse a few times to blend, OR stir with a wire whisk.
4. Add the butter and pulse 3 or 4 times, just until the butter is incorporated enough for the mixture to look like coarse crumbs. Alternatively, use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. You can also just use your fingers; rub the butter into the dry ingredients just until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (See photos above for guidance.)
5. If you've been using a food processor, dump the mixture into a mixing bowl. Set a small bowl of flour nearby just incase you need it later.
6. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the buttermilk. Use a spoon or rubber spatula to gently mix the ingredients until a shaggy dough begins to form. Then, use your hands to gently knead the dough until it holds together completely. (See notes below about under and over working the dough.)
7. Dump the dough out onto a clean work surface. Pat or roll it out into a rectangle that’s about 1-inch thick. If it's really sticking to the work surface, sprinkle with a bit of flour. Use only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking.
8. Fold one side of the dough to the center, then fold the whole thing over again, like you're folding a letter. (See photos above for guidance.)
9. Give the dough a quarter turn and roll or pat it out into a 1-inch thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding process, give the dough a quarter turn, and repeat the folding process once more.
10. Roll or pat the dough back out into a 1-inch thick rectangle and use a 3 ½-inch biscuit cutter to cut out the biscuits. As you cut them out, set them on a plate. Reroll the dough as necessary, cutting out biscuits until you have 8-10 biscuits.
11. Set the plate of biscuits in the freezer for 10 minutes. Then, remove the biscuits from the plate and place them in the cast iron pan (or baking dish). Set the biscuits very close together inside the pan so that their sides are touching. This will help them rise while they bake.
12. Brush the tops of the biscuits with 2 tablespoon (1oz/ 28g) melted butter and place in the oven. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until their tops are golden brown. Biscuits are best served immediately, while still warm, drizzled with honey or spread with jam.

Recipe notes:

• What if I don't have any cake flour? Using a bit of cake flour in this recipe helps create super tender biscuits. But, in a pinch, it's perfectly fine to omit the cake flour and use 2 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour instead.
• No buttermilk? No problem. DIY Buttermilk: How to make your own
• For super flaky biscuits, it's important for the butter to be very cold - as cold as possible without freezing it. Use buttermilk straight from the refrigerator to make the dough and then place the cut-out biscuits in the freezer for another 10 minutes right before baking. This will ensure that the butter inside the dough is still nice and cold when it goes into the hot oven.
• These biscuits can be baked in a cast iron skillet, baking dish, or sheet pan. Regardless of what pan you're using, place them close together with their sides touching if you want them to rise to their maximum potential.
• If baking on a baking sheet, line it with parchment paper or aluminum foil to prevent the biscuits from sticking.
• If baking in a baking dish, grease the inside with a bit of butter, shortening, or vegetable oil.
• If baking biscuits in a cast iron skillet, rub the inside of the pan with a smidge of vegetable shortening or vegetable oil before adding the biscuits. Not only does this ensure that the biscuits won't stick to the pan, it will help create a delicious crispy bottom.

There's a fine line between under-kneading and over-kneading biscuit dough

Kneading dough encourages the development of gluten. A tiny bit of gluten development is important to the structure of biscuits and will help them rise and not collapse on themselves after baking. But too much gluten development will make the biscuits tough.

Once the ingredients have been mixed (step #6), use your hands to gently knead the dough, just a few times, until it is mostly uniform and holds together. The dough should be loosely structured, but still hold together as a cohesive dough.

If you're uncertain, err on the side of under-kneading. The under-kneaded dough will make tender biscuits that are still quite delicious, they just won't be as tall as the ones pictured here. Over-kneaded biscuits will be quite tough.

Photo byRebecca Blackwell/ ofbatteranddough.com

+ Subscribe to my newsletter, Let's Get Lost, for new and exclusive recipes in your in-box every month! As a full time traveler, living, working, cooking, and baking from a 5th wheel RV, it's also where I share our experiences of life on the road.

For more of my recipes, visit alittleandalot.com and ofbatteranddough.com.