For Biscuits, Should Butter Be Melted, Cold or Frozen? (2024)

FAQs

Should butter be frozen for biscuits? ›

But the best was the frozen butter, which made biscuits with the lightest, flakiest and softest texture, as well as with the highest rise. This is because the bits of frozen butter remained more intact during mixing than the cold butter. Try it in our recipe for Buttermilk Biscuits.

Use Cold Butter for Biscuits

This makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside. We default to our Land O Lakes® Salted Butter when baking biscuits.

A key factor in the rise of biscuits and scones, and an even bigger part of their texture, is the little bits of cold butter that melt and make steam as they bake. If the butter is too warm it will incorporate into the dry ingredients and those little pockets of butter and steam will be gone.

It's super simple and makes tall, fluffy biscuits ready for breakfast, sandwiches, and more! The secret to the best biscuits is using very cold butter and baking powder. We've made a lot of biscuits, but this easy biscuits recipe is the one we turn to the most (they are so fluffy!).

This rule is simple. If you prefer unsalted butter, refrigerate it. Same goes for whipped butter. If it creeps above 70 degrees Fahrenheit in your kitchen, all butter should go into the fridge to avoid going bad — even into the freezer if you want to store it for a few months.

Because the butter is still frozen, it keeps your dough nice and cold and will melt perfectly in the oven. And who doesn't want beautiful biscuits and flaky pie crust?

in this case, it appears that the biscuit structure is just a lot more stable (structurally speaking) when there's less butter. When you get a lot of butter, you're kind of filling your biscuit with holes, which makes it unable to bear its own weight to rise very far.

When incorporated in its harder, from-the-fridge state, butter makes baked goods flaky by creating layers in the dough and cutting through gluten development. Pie crust and croissants are prime examples of butter's cold, hard form being used to make a better texture.

Overworking (or Underworking) the Dough

The biscuits will be hard and tough if you stir the dough too much. They will have a floury, uneven texture if you don't mix enough. Our Test Kitchen cracked the code: Stir the dough 15 times for the perfect consistency and texture.

To nail a pillowy texture in any scone, the ingredients (and especially the fats) need to be cold. Typically, that means pulling elements like eggs, butter, and other dairy (cream, buttermilk, sour cream, or crème fraîche) from the refrigerator only just before baking.

Why did my biscuits leak butter? ›

First off, the biscuit butter needs to be super cold so the butter doesn't leak out of the biscuit while it bakes — you'll need to be careful if you aren't able to see tiny pieces of butter spread throughout the dough while you're working it.

Cutting butter into flour or other dry ingredients is an essential part of preparing pastry dough, biscuits and crumbly pie toppings because it gives a light and flaky texture that can't be replicated with any other technique.

Just as important as the fat is the liquid used to make your biscuits. Our Buttermilk Biscuit recipe offers the choice of using milk or buttermilk. Buttermilk is known for making biscuits tender and adding a zippy tang, so we used that for this test.

The two keys to success in making the best biscuits are handling the dough as little as possible as well as using very cold solid fat (butter, shortening, or lard) and cold liquid. When the biscuits hit the oven, the cold liquid will start to evaporate creating steam which will help our biscuits get very tall.

Use good butter and dairy

Because biscuit recipes call for so few ingredients, it's important that every one is high quality—you'll really taste the difference. Catherine recommends splurging a bit on a grass-fed butter or European-style butter (now's the time to reach for Kerrygold!).

Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter, before and/or after baking. Brushing melted butter on unbaked biscuits helps create a beautiful golden brown crust. You don't need a lot of butter, just skim the tops with a buttered pastry brush then bake as directed.

First, Day confirmed that storing biscuits in the fridge is fine as long as they're in an airtight container. This keeps the biscuit fresh for up to five days. “For long term storage, wrap biscuits in plastic wrap, then with tin foil. Store for up to one month in the freezer,” she said.