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Why I Love These Homemade Biscuits
There are so many reasons to love these biscuits! First of all, they are super easy to make and no special equipment (like a food processor, rolling pin, or biscuit cutter) is necessary.
It takes no more than 20 or 25 minutes to make them from mixing the dough to pulling them out of the oven. Then once they are done they’re moist and flakey and are so tasty (c’mon, look at the picture—you know you want one!). And best of all, they can be tossed in the freezer for later.
It honestly couldn’t be easier … so go ahead and throw away that refrigerated tube of dough you bought from the grocery store!
Featured Comment
I am so happy to say that these turned out beautifully! Puffed up, flaky, tasty.
Ingredients for Whole Wheat Biscuits
- Whole-Wheat Flour – Whole-wheat pastry flour is a great lighter choice for this recipe.
- Baking Powder – Be sure your baking powder is fresh, otherwise they might not rise.
- Salt – A 1/2 teaspoon of salt is all it takes.
- Butter – Make sure to use cold butter.
- Milk – You can use any kind of milk for this recipe, but I used organic whole milk.
How to Make Whole Wheat Biscuits
- Heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk with a fork.
- Cut the butter into small pieces and mix it into the dry mixture.
- Mash the butter pieces into the mixture using the back of a fork. It’s okay if the mixture just looks like tiny butter chunks covered in flour. You can also use a stainless steel dough blender.
- Pour in the milk and stir to combine.
- Knead the dough with your hands 8-10 times, but do not over-knead it.
- Pat it flat on a floured surface so that it’s an even 3/4″ thickness.
- Cut out circular shapes using a drinking glass upside down, or you can use a cookie cutter.
- Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for about 10-12 minutes, or until the tops of the biscuits are golden brown.
Easy 3 Ingredient Biscuit Recipe With Self-Rising Flour
Self-rising flour is just regular flour with baking powder and salt already added to it. Some people prefer it for southern style recipes like biscuits because it saves on prep time, and you don’t have to stock as many ingredients.
To make these biscuits with whole wheat self-rising flour, simply omit the baking powder and salt. You’ll be left with an easy 3 ingredient biscuit recipe!
The amount of baking powder in self-rising flour and this biscuit recipe may differ; if you find your biscuits don’t rise with self-rising flour, add an additional teaspoon of baking powder to the mixture.
Biscuit Recipe FAQ
If you’ve seen our Real Food Rules, you know we prefer 100% whole grain flours (check out my post on understanding grains to learn more). For this recipe, you can use whole-wheat flour or whole-wheat pastry flour (recommended)! We stay away from refined grains such as white flour and all-purpose flour.
These are a much healthier version than the store-bought biscuits, by far! And as long as you stick to the recipe and use whole-wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, these are definitely good for you. Plus, making anything from scratch is always a better choice so that you know exactly what ingredients are being used and there are no unwanted preservatives or added sugars.
Yes! That’s the best part about these biscuits, they freeze and reheat beautifully. So make a big batch, let them cool completely, and freeze a bunch in a gallon zip lock freezer bag. Then the next time you want to add a biscuit to your breakfast, lunch, or dinner they are ready to go.
You can throw the frozen biscuits in the microwave or toaster oven on the bake setting. This makes for a quick addition to dinner for those busy weeknights.
Healthier Toppings for Homemade Biscuits
If you like biscuits and gravy: Swap out the traditional sausage and white flour gravy with homemade gravy made from roasting pan drippings.
For biscuits and jam: Use homemade jam or opt for 100% pure store bought varieties with no added refined sugar.
Breakfast biscuit sandwich: Make a healthier version of this fast food breakfast at home with egg, cheese, and your choice of meat.
Other yummy real food biscuit spreads: Honey, natural peanut butter, homemade whipped cream, fruit, and butter.
Why Your Homemade Biscuits Didn’t Rise
If you’re new to making homemade biscuits it might take a bit of practice to get a perfect light and fluffy texture. Here’s some of the most common reasons whole wheat biscuits don’t rise properly and what you can do to correct it.
Old Baking Powder
First, check to make sure your baking powder hasn’t expired, especially if you don’t bake often. Even if it’s not expired, baking powder loses its potency about 6 months after opening. This can be even shorter if the container isn’t airtight.
To test baking powder, add ¼ teaspoon of baking powder to ½ cup of hot water. Good baking powder should activate and fizz when it hits the water.
Over Kneading the Dough
It’s important to knead the dough by hand as few times as possible when you make homemade biscuits. Mixing in an electric mixer or over kneading will make the dough rubbery, which doesn’t bake well.
Butter Too Warm or Oven Too Cool
When you place biscuits in the oven the cold butter heats up and produces steam. This steam adds air between the biscuit layers which, along with the baking powder, helps biscuits rise.
For best results, make sure your butter has been chilled before adding it (straight out of the fridge), don’t let dough get too warm while you work it, and wait for the oven to preheat fully before baking your biscuits.
Weather or Altitude
If you’ve tried everything and still can’t get your biscuits to rise your altitude or the weather might be to blame.
In areas with high humidity baking ingredients can draw moisture in from the air, which affects their performance. Even if you’re not in a humid area, a string of rainy weather can have the same effect too. If this could be the issue, try making some adjustments for baking success.
Altitude is another issue for baking; it can affect how baking powder reacts and how quickly liquids evaporate. Since baking is a chemical reaction, even small differences in how ingredients react can have a negative effect on your baking.
Try a Different Whole Wheat Biscuit Recipe
If you want to try other biscuit recipes, check out these super fluffy biscuits using buttermilk instead.
Other Whole Wheat Biscuit Recipes
- The Fluffiest Whole Wheat Biscuits
- Cinnamon Raisin Yogurt Biscuits
- Whole Wheat Buttermilk Cheese Biscuits
- Whole Wheat Cheddar Garlic Drop Biscuits
- Biscuits and Gravy
The Best Whole Wheat Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole-wheat flour (or whole-wheat pastry flour)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter (cold, unsalted)
- 1 cup milk (any kind)
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl combine the dry ingredients. Mix well with whisk or fork.
- Cut the ½ stick butter into little pea sized pieces and then mix the pieces into the flour mixture.
- Using a fork or pastry blender, try to mash the butter pieces as you mix it together with the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. It is okay if the outcome just looks like the same pea sized pieces of butter covered with flour.
- Then pour in the milk and mix it all together. Knead the dough with your hands 8 to 10 times (for best results do not over-knead the dough) and then turn out onto a floured surface (like a counter or cutting board).
- Pat it out flat with your hands until the dough is a somewhat even ¾-inch thickness (sprinkle with a little flour if necessary).
- Turn a drinking glass upside down and cut out biscuit rounds. I have also used shaped cookie cutters (like a heart or star) if you have little ones helping you!
- Then place biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet or in a cast iron skillet and bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!
Do these freeze well?
They do.
I loved these biscuits they were the best ever I added half cup oats
Can light butter with canola oil be used, since its not a stick can it be melted and added in with the milk? Ive never really baked before, but am trying really really hard to give
up white flour, guess im gonna have to learn fast!
In this case the butter is important to the texture of the biscuits. If you want to us coconut oil in it’s solid form, it won’t be the same, but it will be closer than olive oil. I suppose if you refrigerator the olive oil, or freeze it… you would have to be quick because the olive oil melts quickly.
Just made these for the first time. Yummy! Finally, a biscuit recipe that actually turns out well. Tip – do not roll the dough. Just pat it into a square and cut biscuits into squares to maximize the dough mixture. I used reduced-fat buttermilk. Awesome!
A little tip I learned, use a cheese grater to ‘cut’ up your butter into the flour. Then just stir gently with a fork!
Money. 2nd time around doing this had much better results.
These came out great! Golden brown and they rose sky high. I got 10 biscuits out of the recipe. I love that it’s so simple. I love biscuits with home made chicken (or turkey) soup. Can’t wait to have one tonight with my turkey soup.
These always turn out so good. My go to recipe for biscuits!!
Thank you so much! This is my go-to recipe for whole wheat biscuits. I love the simplicity of it. Mine always rise and are a hit in my house. I do add a couple of tablespoons of honey with the milk, though, because I love the taste of honey and wheat together.
I just made these and they were the best whole wheat biscuits I’ve made. I recommend leaving them a little thicker. I was careless when I rolled out the dough and some were thicke. Those rose very well and the thinner ones barely rose at all. Very easy to throw together. Easier than pancakes.
I suggest a tip when you reheat your biscuits in oven. Spritzing the biscuits with water when reheating them in the oven, since the moisture from water can moisten the biscuits like they were before.
How many calories are in one of these biscuits? I’m hankering for some biscuits and gravy, but doc put me on a weird diet….. These things look really tasty!
Hi there. Sorry, we do not provide nutrition details on recipes.
In Athens, Ga, there is a fabulous bohemian-chic vegetarian restaurant called, The Grit. I have used their biscuits and gravy recipe for 20 years. I have used this biscuit recipe ever since finding it. You can vegan it up by changing the dairy products to soy, and it makes very little difference in the flavor. Here’s the b&g recipe from The Grit cookbook.
1/2 butter
8 vegetarian sausages. I use Morningstar farms..they are the best.
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 cups milk
2 Tbs vegan Worcester sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 scant tsp ground sage
1/2 scant tsp rosemary (optional)
Fresh ground black pepper to taste.
Use about a tablespoon of the butter to fry the sausages until crispy on the outside. Cut them up and continue cooking until they are well browned all over. Set aside.
In a sauce pan (I use the same pan), melt the rest of the butter and stir in flour. Heat until it bubbles, stirring constantly. Gradually whisk in milk while stirring vigorously. Allow it to thicken. Add Worcester sauce and spices. Adjust heat to thicken roux. Add sausage. Remove from heat and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then eat! You can thin the gravy with milk if necessary.
I made these yesterday. I have no ideal what went wrong but they did not rise up at all. I am making them again to today and using buttermilk to see if it makes a different. Plus given them a few mins to rest before I bake them. So far I think The buttermilk, rest and letting them rise up is working. right now they a double the size they was yesterday after they baked. I haven’t even put them in the oven.
These are by far the easiest Whole Wheat recipe I’ve tried and yield good tasting biscuits. They don’t rise as high as the photos, but better than all but one recipe I’ve tried. I really wouldn’t call them “flaky”, but they are very good. If you want them to be “browned” I needed to increase cook time to 15 minutes and don’t crowd them. I’ve made these 10 times now, and they are always good.
These used to be good. I followed the recipe exactly as written. I made them fairly regularly. Then suddenly every time (about 3 times) I made them, they would taste bitter (and I mean bad! Yuck! Non-edible!) I thought my flour had gone rancid every time until I tried them again with new flour, and once again, they were bitter. I decided it was the baking powder. Although, I don’t remember when I switched to non-aluminum baking powder, I have never had any problems with either of the brands or types of b.p. I’ve used in anything. I was going to toss the recipe but decided I’m going to just try using less b.p. Hopefully, 2 teaspoons will work. Any ideas why this would happen? I’m baffled.
Did you try again with less? or considered trying another brand?
That happened to me too, then I realized I accidentally used baking soda instead of baking powder.
Is there any substitution for whole wheat flour in this recipe or any of the muffin recipes? Sometime too much whole wheat flour makes me feel a bit bloated.
Hi there. Spelt is an easy sub with whole wheat.
I made these and they came out great! I used buttermilk and organic whole wheat flour. I didn’t handle the dough too much after it was mixed well and baked them for 10 minutes.
I’m a southern girl and grew up eating southern-style biscuits, but I have to say that I prefer these right here!!! These biscuits are my go-to! The key is to use GOOD whole wheat flour (I only use my own milled flour or Bob’s pastry flour), and SIFT it to have fluffier biscuits. Five stars!!!
Yeah, mine were like hockey pucks, not sure what went wrong. I also followed the directions as outlined.
The biscuits were hard and tasteless. Used whole wheat pastry flour, organic. Will not make them again!
Love the smell wow amazing cooking well done. Made it for a get together and everyone loved it. Would not change a thing. Thank you for posting.
Yes! The flour is 100% the difference,
Use a Whole wheat pastry flour, or I use Bob’s Red Mill whole Wheat Pastry flour. and the biscuits turn out fine. Basically you need a balance in the glutens and the density. The flour is the key!
The flour is the difference!
Mine came out flat too. I followed the recipe exactly. Maybe some baking soda and some buttermilk will lift them up so they are fluffy,
I had the same problem. Then I read that super cold butter is key – even put it in the freezer while you are gathering your ingredients together. The steam from the butter melting as it hits the warm heat of the oven is what causes your biscuits to rise (:
Not fliffy at all bad recipe
How would one make this gluten free??
Hi there. You could try replacing with a whole grain gluten free blend.
I also found the recipe has WAY too much milk called for… I should have known, since looking back I see it is 1/3 cup more than my standard recipe with same amount of flour. I had to add 1/2 cup more per recipe to even be at the consistency for drop biscuits. If you want to actually knead and cut your biscuits into nice rounds, I think you will need to cut milk almost in half. These are a great idea though and I doubled as suggested to freeze…
Best whole wheat recipe ever!
Very adaptable. I tried rolling out one of the biscuits and putting butter n coconut sugar on top then rolling it up again like a crescent roll and it was amazingly good! Thank you for this recipe, its easy n healthy n fluffy.
How do you cut butter into pea size pieces??
Hi. This might help: http://ourbestbites.com/2008/05/cutting-in-butter/.
Love love love! I made them tonight, super easy, flaky, buttery and soooo good. It’s a keeper ;) thanks a lot for the recipe .
Is it the King arthur unbleached flour? Or does it have to say whole wheat?
It should say 100% whole wheat for both pastry flour and white whole wheat.
My batch came out scrumptious! Thanks for the recipe.
Good recipe base. Had to add a 1/2 c. of additional flour to get a good consistency to work with. I also swapped out the butter for coconut oil and it added a really nice dimension of flavor.
I followed the recipe exactly, and mine were so flat :(
Mine too!!
help mine where flat and hard like hockey pucks. I followed the recipe word for word.
These were awesome. The best, most fluffy biscuits I have made and I even used whole spelt flour. Thanks
Your baking powder might be old :(
Too much milk!! Mine was like pancake batter. Other recipes using the same amount of flour call for 3/4 cup or 2/3 cup milk.
Sorry to hear they didn’t turn out for you. You may want to try less milk or more flour, as some readers have mentioned they had to do. – Nicole
Good morning
I just came across your website seems to have a lot of useful information. I made the Whole Wheat Biscuits and I think they are “great” :) I am going to make another batch right away. Thank you
Can you use home milled flour with this recipe?
Sure. :)
^^ also just made adding cinnamon, 3 tablespoons coconut sugar, and a few walnuts (pulsed all in the food processor)…and they came out like nice scones :)
I halved the recipe to test these out. Used 3 tablespoons of butter (instead of 2) and WWPF; pulsed it in my food processor and cut into 4 quarters. A tiny bit of butter on top and ended up baking them for more like 15-20min (the edges seemed a bit raw in where they were almost touching. They are quite good…VERY tender so not necessarily a sandwich biscuit but good to eat on their own. If a different flour was used perhaps not a tender.
How would you ever cut the butter into pea size pieces??
Use a pastry blender to cut butter into the dry ingredients till you have pea size crumbs.
I pat the dough into a square pan and then cut when theyre baked. Very much easier.
Drop biscuits, with more milk added, is an easy biscuit also.
Even with pastry (soft) wheat flour, Ive never seen wholegrain biscuits rise as high as your picture.
This can be a shortcake biscuit with the addition of cinnamon, vanilla and 1/3c sugar to the dry ingredients.
My great-grandma’s (born 1890) recipe for Baking Powder Biscuits is this, but with white flour. Its a very old recipe.
Flat and too salty.
Lisa. These Whole wheat biscuits were very easy to make and were delicious. Also very few ingredients involved. I made these with homemade wheat gravy. My husband and I loved them. Thank you.
I doubled the butter and used 1 1/2 cups of mil and did drop biscuits instead of rolled. They were delicious