Even we sourdough bakers like to have a fairly quick recipe in our repertoire. Sourdough biscuits is one of those perfect recipes that uses up plenty of ripe starter, but doesn’t take all day to rise. These particular biscuits were inspired by a recipe in World Sourdoughs From Antiquity by Ed Wood. I wasn’t disappointed and you won’t be either. The sourdough starter gave these biscuits more of a “bread-like” texture than a traditional baking powder biscuit, but they weren’t as bread-like as a traditional yeast roll. Either way, biscuit or roll, they were the crowning touch to a light dinner – I served them with a green salad and a bottle of wine for my best meal this week!
It really isn’t difficult to make your own sourdough starter. You can use the method I prefer, found on my website Make Your Own Sourdough Starter. Or follow the methods found in earlier Mother Earth News articles, including Creating Homemade Sourdough Bread From a Starter Mix, and a previous blog post, A Beginner’s Guide to Sourdough.
Sourdough Biscuits Recipe
2 cups sourdough starter
1– 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp melted butter
Start with an active, bubbly sourdough starter. In a large bowl combine all ingredients, stirring until a soft dough forms. I had to use 1 1/2 cups of flour to get the dough to hold together, but that is because my sourdough starter was almost runny. If your starter is more dough-like, you will probably only need about a cup of flour.
Knead the dough briefly on a floured surface. Pat dough into a square, about 1/2 inch thick, and cut biscuits with a biscuit cutter – I made 10 large biscuits. Put biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet or in a greased cake pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour.
Baking The Biscuits
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until the biscuits are well browned. Remove from oven. Brush tops with additional melted butter if desired and let cool before serving.
Making Specialty Sourdough Biscuits
This recipe lends itself to some quick, but tasty changes:
Substitute whole-grain Kamut flour for some or all of the all-purpose flour.
Add ½ Tbsp onion powder and 1 Tbsp chopped chives to the ingredients for onion flavored biscuits.
Add 1 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs; rosemary, thyme, chives, and marjoram, to biscuit ingredients.
Add 1 cup crumbled blue cheese and ¼ cup chopped green onions to biscuit ingredients.
Use a specialty sourdough starter to give the biscuits added tang. See how to make an easy specialty starter using my process, How to Make Rye and Other Specialty Sourdough Starters.
Experiment with your own flavors!