Recipes > Fresh Baked Biscuits | Dairy & Egg-Free
- Serves: 6 to 8
- Active Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Views: 91,471
- Success Rating: 75% (?)
Steps
Step 1: Preparing Your Mise en Place
- 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 4 tbsp non-dairy butter, such as Earth Balance
- 3/4 to 1 cup non-dairy milk, unsweetened (such as almond milk)
Method
Preheat the oven to 450* F (230*C).
Gather all of your ingredients. Cut the butter into small cubes. Make sure the butter is COLD. Ideally, the flour and milk should also be cold.
It is important that the butter is cold so when it is worked into the flour mixture, the pieces of butter become flour-coated crumbs, not a smooth dough. This is what creates the delicate flaky texture.
Step 2: Mixing & Baking the Biscuits
- 1/8 cup non-dairy butter, melted
Method
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda into a large bowl.
Note: The trick with biscuits is to handle the dough as little as possible. So work swiftly and do not overwork the ingredients.
Add the cold butter and then using either a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Do not over-mix—there should still be a few big pieces of butter. The dough should look like coarse crumbs.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in 3/4 cup of the milk. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir to form a loose/lumpy, sticky dough. As soon as the dough just comes together, stop mixing. There may be some dry and/or wet spots, this is okay. If the mixture is really dry, add another tbsp or so of milk—but generally 3/4 cup of milk is sufficient.
Next, lightly sprinkle your work surface with some flour and then turn the dough out onto it. Sprinkle with a bit more flour and then fold the dough over onto itself about 3 or 4 times. Again, do NOT over-mix the dough.
Gently form the dough into an approximately 1-inch thick disc. Using a floured biscuit cutter, cut the dough into rounds. Gently re-form the remaining dough and cut out the remaining biscuits. Depending on how thick the dough was formed, you should end up with about 8 biscuits.
Next, lightly spray a small baking tray with non-stick spray (or cover with a piece of parchment paper). Place the biscuits onto the tray in two rows. The two rows should touch, as this will help the biscuits rise more evenly in the oven.
Brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter and transfer to the preheated oven. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the biscuits are lightly browned and a tester comes out clean. The texture of the inside should be light and soft.
Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Serve immediately while still very hot.
Step 3: Serving the Biscuits
Method
These biscuits can be served plain, with jam or even with gravy.
Allow any remaining biscuits to cool completely before storing them airtight at room temperature. They may also be frozen. Reheat before serving.
22 Comments
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Came out perfectly! https://twitter.com/philspitze/status/472728675331616768 -
Rouxbe Staff
Great work Phil, thanks for sharing. ~Ken -
Hi Ken, Could you substitute coconut oil for the non-dairy butter? -
Delicious and I will definitely make these again. -
These came out full of fluffy biscuity goodness! Absolutely amazing biscuits. I've tried and tried to replicate my grandmother's biscuits and always failed, until now. Thank you Rouxbe!! -
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments Barb! So happy that your biscuits turned out so well! Thanks for learning with Rouxbe! Chef Kirk -
This was my first time making biscuits. I followed the recipe to the letter. The results were an amazing! I think, for variety, we might try adding some raisins next time. -
Hi Joe and thank you soooo much for sharing your experience with this technique and recipe! We truly do appreciate your engaging with Rouxbe! All the best, Chef Kirk
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Hi, any substitute for Earth Balance? eg. cashew butter, almond butter, coconut butter? -
Hi Louisa! Thank you for your question. You can definitely omit the Earth Balance for a different fat. Cashew butter, Almond butter and Coconut butter all have fiber still present and so are not in the same category as Earth Balance and therefore will significantly alter the outcome. You can choose a variety of fat/ oil to replace the EB here. My suggestion would be cold coconut oil but these biscuits would also work with walnut oil, sunflower oil or even olive oil. Using a cold, saturated fat like coconut oil or palm oil creates natural pockets in the biscuit that add to their fluffiness! There is also a new Vegan Butter by Miyokos that is available in a lot of natural food stores that would work really well and is cashew and coconut based. You would use the same amount as called for in the recipe. Let me know how it goes. Lauren -
What can I use in place of the unbleached flour? I have gluten issues. Thank you -
HI Debarah, Your can sub a 1:1 Gluten free flour blend like Bob's Red Mill in place of the flour, although it will have a different outcome. I would use 1 cup of Almond flour and 1 cup or GF flour to start. I found this recipe and this might be a good place to start: https://minimalistbaker.com/easy-vegan-gluten-free-biscuits/ Lauren
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Can you make these biscuits without butter or oil? -
Hi Amber, For this, and most biscuit recipes, fat is a very important ingredient to achieve the flaky texture (and iconic flavor) that is synonymous with biscuits. I have come across some biscuit recipes that use non-fat plain yogurt but, they are adjusted in other ways, ingredient and method-wise, to compensate for what the fat does, chemically, in the baking process. I encourage you to research some of those recipes (always mind your sources, of course, the internet has great and not-so-great information), and play around with them until you get your desired effect. Hope this is helpful. Cheers, Sandy -
What is cold, saturated fat like coconut oil? Do I just use normal coconut oil? We only have refined and non -refined coconut oil in our country. Which one is ok? Thank you. -
Hi Tatyana, Yes, coconut oil would work here. You could use either type but, un-refined would add more of a coconut flavor to your biscuits. Cheers, Sandy
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Mine came out a little flat. I used whole wheat pastry flour. Could that be why? Or did I handle the dough too much? I tried not to. They taste delicious. Hmmm, I just re-read the instructions and saw this: "The two rows should touch, as this will help the biscuits rise more evenly in the oven." I'll have to keep making them :-) -
Rouxbe Staff
Hello, Xenia: thanks for writing. Yes, having the oven-ready biscuits touch will help them rise. Anything made with a 100% whole-wheat flour will be heavy and dense. However, I find using a "white, whole-wheat flour" to be lighter when baking. It is made by King Arthur--it bakes beautifully. Try the recipe and let us know how they come out for you. Cheers, Char -
Could I sub with coconut oil (which is more of a solid at room temperature) if I don't have Earth Balance? Thank you in advance for your reply. -
Rouxbe Staff
Hello Hannah: thanks for writing. You can replace the ingredient with a 1:1 ratio, however, the biscuits may have a different flavor. Also, the percentages of fat and water will vary, which will also effect the texture and flavor. If it is helpful, here is a list of palm-oil free vegan butters which are good for baking: https://vegfaqs.com/vegan-butter-without-palm-oil/ Hope this is helpful to you. Cheers, Char
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Mine turned into hockey pucks...LOL.. grrr.. They were hard and heavy, very dense, not flaky. I was never a good baker so I wouldn't blame the recipe at all. I'm sure I must have done something wrong. I measured everything first and made sure that the butter was very cold when I cut into the flour. I may have folded and pressed too much though. I wasn't sure how to do it as I've never made biscuits before. I made a 2nd batch with coconut oil and it turned out better but still not flaky like the picture. They looked like short bread cookies but tasted like dense biscuits. I guess they would be great with mushroom gravy since they would hold together well. Any advice here would be appreciated. -
Rouxbe Staff
Hello Charisse: thanks for writing. Sorry the biscuits created some difficulty for you. It sounds as though the dough was overworked. Your mise en place sounds well organized. A good rule of thumb is to mix-fold for 15 times. Here is what the recipe states: Note: "The trick with biscuits is to handle the dough as little as possible. So work swiftly and do not overwork the ingredients." They say that "three is the time," I'd suggest one more attempt. Thanks for writing, always good to hear from you! Char
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