Best Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe | Butter, Shortening, Lard, or combo

I did a side-by-side comparison of my ultimate buttermilk biscuit recipe with butter, shortening, half butter half shortening, lard from bacon fat, and half butter half lard combo to see which fat or which combo made the absolute BEST biscuits!

More recipes on www.bessiebakes.com.

Tools (Amazon affiliate links):
Bench Scraper: https://amzn.to/4bshM7Q
Pastry Cutter: https://amzn.to/3uoh62N
Kitchen Scale (this scale has lasted over 10 years and still going!):
Biscuit Cutters: https://amzn.to/3SqQ56L
Set of pastry cutter, biscuit cutter, and bench scraper altogether: https://amzn.to/4bpZUus
Sifter for the flour and dry ingredients: https://amzn.to/3wbGdq0

Each batch makes 6 medium-sized biscuits (using a 2.5 inch wide biscuit cutter). Double the recipe if you want to make 12 biscuits.

Biscuit Recipes

Buttermilk Biscuits with Butter
5 TBSP (71 grams butter), european style butter is best because of the high fat content
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour (188 grams), plus more dusting
½ tsp salt (3 grams)
½ TBSP Baking powder (6 grams)
⅛ tsp Baking Soda
2 TBSP sour cream (30 grams)
½ cup Buttermilk (120 grams)


Buttermilk Biscuits with Shortening
5 TBSP shortening (71 grams)
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour (188 grams), plus more dusting
3 grams or ½ tsp salt
6 grams or ½ TBSP Baking powder
⅛ tsp Baking Soda
2 TBSP sour cream (30 grams)
½ cup Buttermilk (120 grams)

Buttermilk Biscuits with half shortening & half butter
2 and ½ TBSP shortening (35 grams)
2 and ½ TBSP butter (35 grams)
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour (188 grams), plus more dusting
3 grams or ½ tsp salt
6 grams or ½ TBSP Baking powder
⅛ tsp Baking Soda
2 TBSP sour cream (30 grams)
½ cup Buttermilk (120 grams)

Buttermilk Biscuits with Lard
5 TBSP (65 grams) lard, you can get enough fat from 1 pound of bacon
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour (188 grams), plus more dusting
3 grams or ½ tsp salt
6 grams or ½ TBSP Baking powder
⅛ tsp Baking Soda
2 TBSP sour cream (30 grams)
½ cup Buttermilk (120 grams)

To make the lard for the lard Biscuits:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Using 1 pound of bacon, place the slices of bacon on a baking sheet. Bake until the bacon is cooked, flipping the bacon over half way through cooking. Remove from the oven and place the bacon on a separate plate, then pour the bacon fat into a heat-safe dish to reserve. Let cool, then place in a container with a lid and freeze until you’re ready to use it. It will stay fresh for up to one month in the freezer.

For all the biscuits:
Place the fat you’re using (lard, butter, or shortening) in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before mixing them in. The freezer will get them extra chilled, especially the lard. Before placing them in the freezer, they can be held in the fridge to keep them chilled. Make sure the buttermilk and sour cream is kept chilled in the fridge until you’re ready to make biscuits.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Mixing the dough:
In a large bowl, sift in the dry ingredients and stir to ensure they’re combined. Then “cut in” the fat you’re using (lard, butter, shortening, or half butter and half shortening) with a pastry cutter or you can press the fat into dry ingredients with your fingers. Mix in the fat until they are small crumbles throughout the dough.

Stir together your buttermilk and sour cream in a small bowl. Add the buttermilk and sour cream mixture to your dough and mix with a spatula until the dough is just combined, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Don’t over mix as it will toughen your dough.

Put a small mound of flour off to the side. Dump out the mixture onto a surface and press the dough together in a square or circle. Use the bench scraper to help release the dough from your surface to keep it from sticking. When needed, dip your hands into the flour to keep the dough from sticking too much to your hands. Try not to add tons of flour to the surface under the biscuit dough because you’ll be folding in lots of extra flour into your dough which can dry out your biscuits.

Laminating the dough:
To laminate the biscuit dough for flaky layers, use a bench scraper (metal or plastic), cut the dough in half down the middle, then place one half on top of the other half and press down. Repeat this process for a total of 6 times.

Shaping the biscuits (Rounds or square biscuits):
Using only your hands (no need for a rolling pin), shape the dough into a circle if you're using a round biscuit cutter. Flour the biscuit cutter before pressing through the dough each time. Cut out 4 pieces, then for the last two, re-form the extra pieces of dough back together.

You can also shape the dough into a square and cut the biscuits with a knife into 6 even squares.

Place the biscuits onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and brush the tops of each biscuit with cold buttermilk.

Bake for 12-14 minutes. Brush with butter as soon as they come out of the oven.

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