These are not your typical biscuits. Tall and pillowy they are not, they are actually kinda on the squatty side of biscuits. But what they are is full of butter and tangy sourdough flavor with a soft fluffy interior and crispy exterior. Oh, and they don’t rely on any commercial leavening agents. Just good ol’ sourdough starter. And you make them up the night before and let them sit for 8-12 hours to develop all those sourdough flavors. Come morning, bake them off and you can have long fermented sourdough biscuits in less than 30 minutes for breakfast. Dreams do come true….
Since baking powder or baking soda isn’t used, the key to these biscuits is an active starter. If your starter isn’t bubbling away before you use it, you will end up with a very dense biscuit. Our post on Sourdough Bread has lots of helpful tips and links on how to begin and care for sourdough starters.
Making biscuits in the Ankarsrum means you don’t have to bother with cutting in the butter. What you do need is FROZEN butter that has been grated. If you have the shredder attachment, it works beautifully for this:
And now instead of cutting it in, the frozen butter gets gently mixed with the dry ingredients so it is coated in flour and can evenly distribute throughout the biscuit dough:
Next the wet ingredients are added:
Once these are formed, they are going to ferment for 8-12 hours in the fridge. You can gently cover them with lightly greased wax paper and then a kitchen towel. Or do as I do, and make use of large food storage containers. I prefer to already have them on the parchment paper or silicone baking sheet they will bake on before they ferment, because sourdough dough often becomes a little sticky as it ferments, and the biscuits can get messed up if you try to transfer them after fermenting:
A long fermentation really brings out those tangy sourdough flavors, and can also be helpful for people with gluten sensitivities, who find that sourdough is easier to digest.
If you have any questions or comments, please let us know. Happy baking!
Overnight Sourdough Biscuits
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Inactive Time: 8-10 hours
100 g. (7 Tbsp.) frozen unsalted butter
300 g. (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
5 g. (1 1/4 tsp.) kosher salt
180 g. (1 cup) 100% hydration active sourdough starter
195 g. (3/4 cup) buttermilk
melted butter for brushing, optional
Set up the Ankarsrum base with the shredder attachment and the regular size grating drum. Place a small bowl underneath. Grate butter on the highest speed, using the plunger to help push it through. Alternately, use a box grater to grate the frozen butter.
In the plastic whipping bowl with the single wire whisks, place the flour, salt and frozen grated butter. Mix on the lowest speed (12 o’clock) just until the butter has been coated with the flour.
Add the sourdough starter and buttermilk and mix on lowest speed until almost fully combined.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times just until mixture fully comes together. Pat out to about 3/4 inch thick. Use a 4 inch biscuit cutter (or size of choice) to cut out biscuits. Reform scraps and cut out biscuits again until all the dough is used.
Place biscuits on a baking pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Cover with wax paper coated in cooking spray and then cover with kitchen towels. Or, cover with a large food storage container. Place in the fridge and let ferment for 8-12 hours.
Preheat oven to 425º F.
Uncover biscuits. If desired, brush tops with melted butter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until baked through and tops are brown. Let cool slightly before serving.
Yield: 8 biscuits
WHOLE WHEAT VERSION
-Replace all purpose flour with 282 g. (2 1/2 cups) whole wheat flour.
-If you mill at home, hard white wheat, hard red wheat or spelt can be used. Biscuits above were made with freshly milled hard white wheat.
