High Rise Yeast Biscuits
Fluffy, light, buttery and downright delicious. These biscuits have three rising agents, resulting in the most tender biscuit ever. High rise yeast biscuits deserve a special spot at your dinner table.
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon instant yeast see note
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 5 cups all purpose flour see note
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening Crisco or similar brand
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cups buttermilk room temperature
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted for topping biscuits
Instructions
- To a small bowl, add the instant yeast, warm water (temperature of baby's bathwater) and sugar. Set aside while you mix the other ingredients. The yeast will smell yeasty and become bubbly during this time.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to a large bowl. Stir together to combine.
- Cut the shortening into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter (affiliate link), your fingers or two knives. Continue until the shortening is in very small pea-shaped pieces.
- Using a box grater, grate the cold butter on the edges of the grater. Add the cold butter to the flour mixture. Mix to combine.
- To the flour/butter mixture, add the reserved yeast and the buttermilk. Mix gently until the dough forms a ball.
- Turn the dough out on the counter and fold over once or twice, being careful not to overwork the dough.
- Pat and roll the dough into a large rectangle (roughly 20 inches by 13 inches) and 1/2 inch or more thick. Cut the dough into 20-24 rectangular pieces (depending on how many you want) using a bench knife (affiliate link) or sharp knife.
- Fold each rectangle in half and place in a greased 9 by 13 baking pan. Continue filling up the pan and nestling the rolls together.
- Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise about an hour. The time may vary based on the temperature of the buttermilk and the temperature of your kitchen.
- Once the biscuits have risen (puffed up and approximately doubled in size), preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Bake biscuits for 20 minutes until golden brown on top.
- As soon as they come out of the oven, brush melted butter on top of the biscuits. Continue brushing until all the butter is used up. Enjoy immediately!
Notes
Dry Active Yeast: This recipe will also work with dry active yeast. Use the same amount of dry active yeast as you would instant yeast. Be sure to let the yeast mixture sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast has activated with the water and sugar.
Gluten Free Flour: If you want to make these biscuits gluten-free, you can substitute Cup4Cup flour (affiliate link) for the all purpose flour in the recipe. I do not have experience with any other gluten-free flours. Cup4Cup works very well in this recipe. Substitute the flour and proceed with the recipe as outlined.