Flaky Folded Biscuits
Updated Oct. 15, 2025

- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus freezing
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ½cup/120 milliliters cold whole milk
- ⅓cup/85 grams whole milk Greek-style yogurt (preferably 5% milk fat)
- 2level cups/285 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1tablespoon baking powder
- ¼teaspoon baking soda
- 1teaspoon kosher salt
- 1cup/225 grams unsalted butter, frozen (2 sticks; you will not use all of it)
Preparation
- Step 1
Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together milk and yogurt; place in refrigerator until ready to use.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- Step 3
Place a large plate or small rimmed baking sheet on top of a kitchen scale and zero the scale. Remove the butter from the freezer and unwrap it. Using a flat, open hand, position the butter lengthwise against the large holes of a box grater. Grate as much butter as you can without grating your fingers or hand until you have a total of 5 ounces/140 grams grated frozen butter.
- Step 4
Immediately transfer the grated butter to the large bowl with the flour mixture and toss gently with your fingertips until the butter is thoroughly coated in the flour mixture and no clumps of butter remain.
- Step 5
Add the refrigerated milk-yogurt mixture to the large bowl and fold the mixture until it forms a very rough, shaggy ball. Dump the mixture out onto a generously floured countertop and, dusting with more flour as needed to prevent sticking, knead four to five times until dough just holds together. Flatten into a rough 4-inch square with your hands.
- Step 6
Using a rolling pin, roll the mixture out into a rough 12-inch square, flouring generously as needed to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter or the rolling pin. Using a bench scraper, fold the sides of the square across the center in thirds like a business letter. Flatten gently with your hand, then fold the top and bottom thirds into the center to form a rough 4-inch square. Flatten the square out with your hands.
- Step 7
Roll the square out into a 12-inch square again. Starting at the bottom edge, roll the dough up like a jelly roll into a tight log. Lay the log seam-side down, then press into a rough 3-by-12-inch rectangle. Cut the rectangle crosswise into four 3-by-3-inch squares, then cut each square across the diagonal to form 2 triangles (for a total of 8 triangles). Transfer the triangles to a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them out evenly.
- Step 8
Melt 3 tablespoons of the remaining butter and brush it over the tops of the biscuits. Bake until golden brown and puffed, 16 to 20 minutes. Remove biscuits from oven and brush the tops with a little more melted butter. Allow to cool slightly, then serve.
Private Notes
Comments
Or you could take the frozen butter and coat it with the flour mixture and then start grating. This is how America's Test Kitchen does with their stick of butter before grating.
Keep the wrapper on the butter, and then it won't slip or melt while grating!
You can chill the grater and the plate you grate onto. You can take breaks to chill the bitte, plate, and grater. I’ve been grating butter for short doughs for years and it’s a game changer.
I feel I am missing something: I used the measurements in the recipe and the dry+wet ingredients weren't anywhere near as wet. In fact, it had a very hard time staying together when rolling it out. ?
I've made these so many times, exactly as directed here. People frequently tell me they're the best biscuits they've ever had. Each time I revisit the recipe here I read the comments and shake my head. First, the idea that "biscuits are simple!" is something only someone who had never made a bad batch of tough biscuits (despite following "good" recipes) would say, and everyone has made bad biscuits. Second, the whole "these just taste like butter" thing...Yes? And? What am I missing? Lard? ok.
Just made for first time and they were great. My old stand by biscuit recipe required things I did not always have on hand. These ingredients will allow me to make biscuits more often - not sure that is a good thing-will just require a few more laps in the pool! Look forward to trying some of your other recipes.
