The science behind baking buttermilk biscuits is essentially the same as in scones. Let’s start of with the ingredients. Buttermilk biscuits have flour, baking powder as a leavening agent, butter and of course, buttermilk. To understand the bit about why you aren’t supposed to overwork your dough, it’s necessary to understand what gluten is.

Gluten is basically a structural protein found in wheat (and other grains) that provides a body to the dough. It gets activated when the flour gets wet and then kneaded. Think of the roots of that dried plant in your window sill, still holding the soil together. The gluten is the roots. But there’s a catch: the more you knead the dough, the more gluten forms; the more the roots grow, the more compact and dense the soil becomes.

This is where the cold butter comes in: the butter, while it is still cold and un-melted, does not allow the flour to get too wet when the buttermilk is added. That way enough gluten is formed to bind the dough together, while still keeping the final result soft and flaky. When you overwork the dough, you’re 1) squeezing air out from the dough and 2) melting the butter with your body heat. This results in more gluten being formed, since you are kneading it too much and the biscuits turn out to be dense because there is no air in the dough and the butter is melted. Essentially, the butter won’t melt in the oven to form a pocket of air. So the key is to knead the dough until just combined and not overwork it.

I like to slightly cool the rolled dough in the fridge before shaping the biscuits, since the dough has come in contact with a fair bit of body heat. This ensures the dough stays cold and you don’t have to work too quickly to prevent the dough from getting too warm.

Makes 6-8 biscuits:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 2 tbsp. cold butter
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (see recipe below)
• Milk

Preheat your oven to 450F or about 232C. Combine the flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter/ bench scraper/ two knives in a cutting motion, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles course crumbs. Add all the buttermilk at once and mix with a fork until just combined. The dough should still be slightly crumbly, just holding together. It’s okay if there are still a few clumps of flour. Transfer the dough onto a floured surface. Fold the dough for about 8-10 times, for a few layers to be formed. Roll the dough to a 1/2 or 3/4 inch thickness. Refrigerate the dough for about five minutes. Cut biscuits using a 2- 2.5 inch cutter dipped in flour after every repetition. Place the biscuits on an ungreased sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Brush the biscuit tops with milk using a pastry brush. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until golden.

Buttermilk:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 3/4 tbsp. distilled white vinegar/ lemon juice/ apple cider vinegar

Combine and let stand for 5 minutes before using in the recipe!