Easy Sourdough Drop Biscuits

This sourdough drop biscuit recipe is one you’ll come back to again and again. These easy sourdough drop biscuits are light, tender, buttery, and so delicious. You can even enjoy the benefits of sourdough in your biscuits and gravy!

I absolutely love a tender, fluffy, buttery biscuit for breakfast. It always feels like such a special treat! Making biscuits always seemed like so much work to me that I really only made them on weekends or special occasions. I’m so happy to finally have a simple recipe for sourdough biscuits. Not only can I enjoy biscuits for breakfast more often, but I also get to have the benefits of sourdough along with it!

My favorite way to enjoy these easy sourdough drop biscuits is by making biscuits and gravy! After all, what’s more cozy and special than waking up to a hot plate of biscuits and sausage gravy?

What’s a Drop Biscuit?

Drop biscuits are made similarly to traditional cut-out biscuits. In fact, the ingredients used are exactly the same! Cut-out biscuits are made by putting your dough on the counter, rolling it out, and cutting the dough into biscuits. Drop biscuits are made by adding about 1/3 – 1/2 cup extra milk to the dough, then taking a large spoon and “dropping” big spoonfuls of dough onto a baking sheet.

Drop biscuits are my go-to for biscuit making. I love the convenience of only using one bowl, and not having to roll out the biscuits on the counter! Clean up is so easy, and this means I end up making biscuits way more often than I normally would.

Drop biscuits have a lightly crispy outside and an extremely tender, soft texture on the inside. They also have a delicious buttery flavor that matches, and sometimes exceeds that of a cut-out biscuit. Drop biscuits are more tender, and not as flakey as a cut-out biscuit. They do not have as many layers, and are therefore much more difficult to slice in half.

All things considered, I prefer using cut-out biscuits for slicing in half and serving with butter and jelly, while I prefer using drop biscuits for things like biscuits and gravy, or just eating as-is! Of course, if I’m in a hurry, I’m not afraid to serve drop biscuits with butter and jelly. Super delicious!

Long Fermented Sourdough Biscuits

Because of the milk and butter in this recipe, and the need to keep the butter cold in order to have a tender biscuit, this sourdough recipe does its fermenting in the refrigerator.

Fermenting sourdough takes much longer in the refrigerator. I allow my biscuit dough to ferment for at least 24 hours before baking them, but if you really want to get all the sourdough benefits, you could leave this dough in the refrigerator for several days! This is also a great way to have a make-ahead sourdough breakfast option ready for you whenever you need it. When you’re ready just take it out of the refrigerator, mix in the baking powder, and bake.

If you’re in a hurry for biscuits, you can also just skip the refrigeration step entirely and bake these biscuits right away!

Can you freeze sourdough biscuits?

Absolutely! Since I currently don’t have a big family, this is one of my favorite ways to have a fresh, hot biscuit on hand whenever I want it.

Simply bake the biscuits and allow them to cool completely, then place in an airtight container or ziplock freezer bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. Sourdough biscuits stay extremely fresh this way.

To reheat, I place the biscuits on a tray and bake them in the toaster oven or regular oven at 350 for 5-10 minutes, or until hot and lightly crisp on the outside.

Sourdough Biscuits with Discard or Active Starter?

This recipe calls for an active sourdough starter, but I’ve had success with both active starter and discard. If you use an active sourdough starter, the dough will ferment more quickly in the refrigerator, which is certainly a plus!

If you are using sourdough discard, make sure you have a mature starter and not a brand new one. Your starter needs to be mature and able to properly rise a loaf of bread. If you use a brand new starter, the biscuits will still turn out delicious, but they probably won’t have the benefits of long-fermented sourdough. Also, if you use sourdough discard, make sure you are measuring your ingredients by weight. 1/2 cup of sourdough discard weighs much more than 1/2 cup of fresh, active sourdough starter.

Ingredients:

250g All Purpose Flour

5g Sea Salt

12g Sugar

113g Salted Butter – Cold

100g Active Sourdough Starter

175ml Milk – Cold

10g Baking Powder

How to make sourdough drop biscuits:

Mix together the flour, salt, and sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Next, slice your butter into pieces and work it into the flour mixture until you have pea-sized chunks of butter throughout. You can also freeze your butter and use a cheese grater to grate the butter into the flour, which works extremely well.

Add the sourdough starter and milk, and mix until everything is just barely moistened. Be careful not to over-mix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 24-36 hours to long-ferment. If you don’t have time or are not interested in the long-ferment, you can skip this step and move right to the next one.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator and mix in the baking powder (You may want to use your hands, as the dough will be very stiff), then take a large spoon and put 8 dollops of dough onto the baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until nicely golden brown on top.

Enjoy!

Standard Measurments

2 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 Tbsp Sugar

1/2 Cup Butter

1/2 Cup Active Sourdough Starter

3/4 Cup Whole Milk

2 tsp Baking Powder

Printable Recipe for Easy Sourdough Drop Biscuits

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