Equipment
* optional
Ingredients
Buttermilk Biscuits
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 15 g baking powder
- 2 g baking soda
- 6 g fine sea salt
- 115 g unsalted butter, frozen
- 180 ml buttermilk, cold
Coffee-Sriracha Mayo
- 2 g instant coffee granules
- 2 ml hot water
- 120 g mayonnaise
- 15 g sriracha sauce
Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition is estimated per serving. Nutrients without complete source data are omitted.
Full nutrition
- Calories
- 354 kcal
- Protein
- 5 g
- Carbohydrates
- 31 g
- Fat
- 24 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sugar
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 729 mg
- Saturated Fat
- 9 g
- Trans Fat
- 0 g
- Monounsaturated Fat
- 6 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat
- 7 g
- Cholesterol
- 38 mg
- Potassium
- 96 mg
- Calcium
- 148 mg
- Iron
- 0.7 mg
- Magnesium
- 13 mg
- Phosphorus
- 110 mg
- Zinc
- 0.4 mg
- Vitamin A
- 106 mcg
- Vitamin C
- 1 mg
- Vitamin D
- 0.0 mcg
- Vitamin E
- 0.9 mg
- Vitamin K
- 26 mcg
- Vitamin B6
- 0.0 mg
- Vitamin B12
- 0.1 mcg
- Thiamin
- 0.06 mg
- Riboflavin
- 0.06 mg
- Niacin
- 0.6 mg
- Folate
- 12 mcg
- Water
- 32 g
- Caffeine
- 8 mg
Sources: Aggregated Public Data, USDA FoodData Central
Method
Preheat your oven to 220C or 425F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place it in the refrigerator to chill.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and fine sea salt until thoroughly combined.
Grate the frozen butter directly into the dry ingredients using a box grater. Toss the butter gently with your fingers to ensure each piece is coated in flour.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the cold buttermilk. Use a spatula to fold the mixture gently just until a shaggy dough begins to form.
Turn the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it into a rectangle, then fold it into thirds like a business letter. Turn the dough 90 degrees, pat it out again, and fold into thirds once more. Repeat this folding process one final time.
Pat the dough into a round roughly 2.5 centimeters or 1 inch thick. Press a biscuit cutter straight down into the dough without twisting. Place the cut biscuits onto the chilled baking sheet so their edges are just touching.
Bake in the preheated oven at 220C or 425F for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the tops are deeply golden brown and the layers are visibly puffed.
While the biscuits bake, prepare the mayonnaise. In a small mixing bowl, dissolve the instant coffee granules in the hot water. Whisk in the mayonnaise and sriracha sauce until smooth and uniform in color.
Remove the baked biscuits from the oven and let them rest on the pan for 5 minutes before serving warm with the coffee-sriracha mayonnaise.
Chef's Notes
- Placing the biscuits so they touch on the baking sheet forces them to rise upward rather than spreading outward, resulting in taller biscuits.
- If you find your kitchen is very warm, place your flour in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before beginning the recipe.
- The coffee-sriracha mayonnaise might sound unusual, but the roasted, bitter notes of the coffee perfectly balance the sweet heat of the sriracha and the rich fat of the mayo, cutting through the buttery richness of the biscuit.
- Do not overwork the biscuit dough. It should look a little shaggy and unrefined when you do your first fold; it will smooth out as you laminate it.
Storage
Refrigerator: 3 days — Store the mayonnaise in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Biscuits are best stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Freezer: 3 months — Freeze baked or unbaked biscuits in a sealed container.
Reheating: Reheat baked biscuits in a 175C oven for 5 to 7 minutes until warmed through.
Troubleshooting
Biscuits are dense and did not rise well
Cause: The butter melted into the flour before baking, or the biscuit cutter was twisted during cutting
Fix: Cannot be fixed once baked, but dense biscuits can still be split and toasted
Prevention: Ensure butter and buttermilk are extremely cold, chill the dough if it gets warm during shaping, and press the cutter straight down
Coffee mayonnaise is grainy
Cause: Instant coffee was not fully dissolved in the hot water before mixing with the cold mayonnaise
Fix: Let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature for 10 minutes and whisk vigorously
Prevention: Allow the coffee granules to sit in the hot water for 30 seconds and stir well before adding the other ingredients
Cultural Context
Southern buttermilk biscuits are a cornerstone of American regional baking, originally relying on the acidic tang of buttermilk and baking soda to create lift before commercial baking powder was widely available. The technique of cutting fat into flour reflects a long history of resourcefulness in rural kitchens. Pairing these deeply traditional breads with a modern, fusion-inspired coffee and sriracha mayonnaise highlights how classic techniques can serve as an incredible canvas for bold, global flavor profiles.
