Easy Sourdough Biscuits Recipe - Tender Homemade Biscuits! (2024)

FAQs

Why are my homemade biscuits tough? ›

Kneading too much and overhandling biscuit, shortcake and scone dough overdevelops the gluten in the flour, resulting in a chewy, tough baked product.

For super light, crumbly biscuits try grating or pushing the yolks of hard-boiled eggs through a sieve into the biscuit dough. This increases the fat content and slows down the development of gluten. Cookie recipes on the other hand are more likely to contain eggs. Adding moisture as well as binding the mixture.

Take the biscuits and wrap them in a plastic cling film or zip pouch to make sure there's space for moisture to seep in. Lastly, put them in an airtight box and store inside a refrigerator to enjoy crunchy biscuits each time.

Overworking (or Underworking) the Dough

The biscuits will be hard and tough if you stir the dough too much.

Wondering why your biscuits are too hard? If you're making shaped biscuits, don't re-roll the trimmings too many times. Doing this develops gluten and makes tough biccies. If you find the dough is becoming elastic and hard to roll, wrap it in cling film and chill it for 10min to allow the gluten to relax.

Use Cold Butter for Biscuits

For flaky layers, use cold butter. When you cut in the butter, you have coarse crumbs of butter coated with flour. When the biscuit bakes, the butter will melt, releasing steam and creating pockets of air. This makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside.

Binding. In cakes, muffins, cookies, pancakes, waffles, doughs and many other baked goods, whole eggs are used as a binder. Eggs are natural binders, helping hold all other baking ingredients together and increasing the viscosity of batters and doughs.

And baking powder is typically made of 2 parts baking soda to 1 part cream of tartar. In the presence of a liquid, the acidity of the cream of tartar activates the baking soda, causing it to start bubbling away, and that, in turn, is what makes the biscuits rise.

Eggs are responsible for giving baked goods structure, which means the amount you use directly affects the resulting texture. Using too few eggs will make your desserts dense, but using too many will make them rubbery. The explanation for this lies in the fact that eggs are made up of protein.

Cover the dough loosely with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. Gently pat out the dough some more, so that the rectangle is roughly 10 inches by 6 inches. Cut dough into biscuits using a floured biscuit cutter (or even a glass, though its duller edge may result in slightly less tall biscuits).

Why are my homemade biscuits chewy? ›

You also have to be careful not to over-blend or you'll end up with chewy biscuits. An appliance will likely result in dough that is too far gone before you realize the mistake has been made. The fix: Put away the food processor or hand mixer, and use forks, a pastry cutter, or your hands.

As the biscuits sit around, even in a tin, the sugar absorbs moisture from the air. Leave sugar in a bowl in the tropics, for example, and it will absorb so much water it will eventually turn into a liquid! As the sugar in the biscuit absorbs more moisture, it becomes softer and softer and less and less appetising.

Why are my biscuits hard? If your biscuits come out hard and crumbly, it's most likely because the dough was overworked during the kneading process. To prevent that, mix your dough just until it comes together. You should still see bits of butter in your dough.

Fully incorporating the butter and flour guarantees tender, airy biscuits every time. Low-protein flours keep biscuits fluffy and light, never tough. Yogurt provides both hydration and structure, for biscuits that bake up straight and tall but moist.

When the dough is overmixed or kneaded too much, it develops gluten, leading to a tougher texture. To remedy this, mix the dough just until the ingredients are combined and avoid excessive kneading. Using too much flour can also result in tough biscuits, so be sure to measure accurately.

The solution is as simple as putting the biscuits in an airtight jar along with a small piece of bread (no more than half a slice).

If your cheesecake base is too hard – this can be down to a few things, such as brands of biscuits, too much butter, or a really cold fridge (or if you froze the cheesecake). Generally I stick to a rule of about 100-150g of butter in a biscuit base.