It has taken several years, but I finally have a Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuit recipe that we love and I owe it all to whole wheat pastry flour. Bobby and I love biscuits but have always felt guilty about all of the white flour and fat. For years our standard biscuit recipe was the buttermilk biscuit recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens “New Cookbook” – 1968 edition. This is still the recipe I use, but now I substitute 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour for 1 cup of the AP flour, and butter in place of shortening. Yes, the whole wheat pastry flour has reduced our guilt, but then there’s the butter. Oh well, what’s life without butter – right?
These whole wheat buttermilk biscuits are much lighter than biscuits made with regular whole wheat flour. They are flaky and have a wonderful flavor thanks to the buttermilk and butter. We enjoy them with fried eggs and bacon, a scoop of jam, a drizzle of honey, and as the bread for a breakfast sandwiches, just to name a few.
Hope you enjoy these great biscuits!
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits
This recipe was adapted from Better Homes and Garden “New Cookbook” – 1968 edition. Whole wheat pasty flour yields a lighter and fluffier biscuit than regular whole wheat, and with the buttermilk and butter, you get a very tasty biscuit. (The number of biscuits you get depends on how big you make them.)
*See Kitchen Notes for more information, substitutions, and links (if applicable).
- 1 cup AP flour, sifted
- 1 cup Whole wheat pastry flour*, sifted
- 3 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter (keep cold until ready to use)
- ¾ cup cold buttermilk
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. Whisk together to distribute.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until you have a crumbly texture and the butter is evenly distributed.
- Make a hole in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the buttermilk.
- Using a rubber spatula, combine the wet and dry ingredients. Using your hands, continue to combine until you have dough*. Try not to overwork the dough.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to about to about 1/2″ thick.
Cut the biscuits into squares or rounds, whatever your preference.
Bake for 10 -14 minutes. (Adjust time for elevation. @5000ft -13 minutes*)
Pastry Flour – Bob’s Red Mill and Whole Foods 365 make a whole wheat pastry flour. The Red Mill pastry flour has become my regular flour. Love it!
Dough – If the dough seems a little dry, add 1 Tbsp. buttermilk or milk. If the dough seems to wet, sift in 1 Tbsp. flour.
Baking at elevation – The higher the elevation, the longer these biscuits take to cook. Try not overcook as that will dry them out. At sea level, they’ll probably take 10 – 12 minutes, whereas, they take 12 – 13 minutes at @5000 ft.
Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits make a really nice breakfast or an addition to a breakfast. A classic breakfast for me is a soft-boiled egg and a warm biscuit with a drizzle of honey or for a more bold breakfast, a scoop of Green Chile Peach Preserves. Any leftover biscuits are split in half, toasted on a griddle and served with jam for breakfast the next day. So good!
As you already know from my recipes, I don’t bake a lot so even though my biscuits are quite good, they aren’t that pretty. When they first come out of the oven, they are nice and fluffy but they don’t have the delicate layering of some biscuits. Probably because I’m too lazy in the morning to go to that much trouble. 🙂 If you really want to learn to make tall, fluffy biscuits, then check out the biscuits recipes from Zsuzsa in the Kitchen. She makes some of the prettiest biscuits I’ve ever seen and her cracklings biscuits take me back to my grandmother’s kitchen.
Here are some more sweet and savory breakfast breads you’ll enjoy.
You’ve gently reminded me of another delicious way that I can incorporate ‘health’ into the beloved biscuit of ours. Flavor plus good-for-us is such a winning recipe MJ. Now that the weather is cooler (91 degrees instead of 93 degrees), I’m using the oven more! Thanks for sharing this delicious and smart recipe!
Thank you so much Roz! Glad to see it’s cooling off “a little”. Today is the first day of fall and it FINALLY feels like it. 🙂
Beautiful biscuits, dear MJ. I have never eaten anything similar… I’m sure they taste much better with butter (my motto is if I eat fat, they must be good tasting fats!) and they do look lovely and very pretty! I wish I had the courage to bake biscuits for breakfast… (then I could show you really not pretty biscuits, haha!)
Thanks so much Sissi! Well, looks are not the important part of biscuits, it’s the flavor that counts IMO. These were even prettier when they came out of the oven, but by the time I ate a couple of them, they had fallen, but still prettier than some I make. 🙂
MJ, these look great! It’s hard to get whole wheat to behave when making biscuits but you’ve done it here. I’m a bit fan of buttermilk and like the square shape too!
Totally agree Judy about whole wheat. but the pastry flour seems to be a lot easier to work with and much lighter. Thanks for your comment!
Now that days have started to cool off, I am thinking of getting back to my baking habits. These scones are the best way to start!
Thanks Katherina! It’s finally starting to cool off a bit here as well. YAY!
I really like pastry flour and these biscuits look perfectly fluffy and really delicious!
Thanks Amy!
Biscuits is something I love. I could eat them each day!
Agreed! Thanks Marta!
Amazing what a change of flour TYPE can do! And don,t touch the butter, got to have it lol.
Thanks Evelyne! I agree – don’t touch the butter! 🙂
These biscuits look pretty perfect to me! Love that you’ve made them a little healthier without sacrificing taste!
Thanks so much Liz!
Hi MJ. Where I am these would be called scones and what you calll cookies would be biscuits…. Vive la difference. Cheers
I know…I’ve noticed that. I always have to think about where a person is from when they referred to biscuits. 🙂 Thanks Carole!
We made biscuits a few times in culinary school, but I’ve never made them at home. And I even bought a biscuit cutter years ago – that’s still in the drawer. 🙂 But I’m really interested in that Green Chile Peach Preserves – heading over to take a look.
Really? They were a pretty standard breakfast item growing up that now I use them as a special treat. 🙂 Hope you get to try the preserves. Bought some Palisade peaches yesterday – YAY!- so I’ll be making a jar tomorrow. Thanks Lea Ann and hope you’re having a great weekend.
Wheat Montana is a brand that I use pretty much exclusively. They have a number of different varieties but their whole wheat flour is so fine, it’s like pastry flour. Using it to try this recipe this weekend!
That’s good to know Debra! It’s seems to be getting harder and harder to find the Red Mill here. I’ll check out Wheat Montana. Hope you have a chance to make the biscuits! Thanks!
Hot out of the oven. We cannot resist. Today it is much cooler out and we are getting in the baking mood.
Thanks Bobbi! It has started to cool off here so I’m able to use my little oven. It’s got to get a lot cooler to turn on the big one. 🙂 Stay cool!!!
I never could pass up a good biscuit. Having a healthy alternative is always a good thing! I’m imagining a drizzle of honey over one of your warm biscuits right now, YUM!
BTW did you get my message awhile back?
Thanks Jan! They are great with honey! Yes, I did get your message and responded to it. Did you get mine? I’ll try again.
That red checkered Betty Crocker “New Cookbook” was the first cookbook I owned. My son now has on his shelf. I like the whole wheat pastry flour substitution. I can get graham flour here and it should work fine. I usually drop/spoon my biscuits, but a square cut makes sense.
That’s funny! I got it as a wedding present back in 1974 with a few other cookbooks, so it was one of the first I own as well. 🙂 A great cookbook to pass down to the kids. Graham flour? That sounds interesting.
I adore biscuits 🙂 well, who doesn’t? These look amazing made with wholewheat flour!
Thanks Angie! Agree – who doesn’t love biscuits? 🙂
Dear, dear …. another one to try 🙂 Truly appreciate …
thanks Darlin!
Yum MJ! I’m with you on the white flour and fat thing, and I do adore biscuits… I need to give this recipe a whirl with those green chile and peach preserves!
Thanks Tamara! I’m going to be making a jar of those preserves this week. We are finally getting local peaches. YAY!
Even though I have a nifty set of round biscuit cutters, I usually cut my biscuits in squares, too. Too much trouble piecing together the bits of leftover dough when I cut them into rounds, in order to be able to cut more rounds. Anyway, terrific looking recipe. It’s butter all the way for us. Or sometimes lard. But usually butter. 🙂 And we normally use white flour — need to try it your way, with some whole wheat in the mix. Good stuff — thanks.
Thanks John! I actually started cutting my biscuits square after seeing a post of your biscuits a couple of years ago. 🙂 So much easier!
There are so many fabulous flours to choose from, making baking such a tasty adventure. These whole wheat biscuits are so inviting! I say pass the butter and I’ll bring homemade jam!
Thanks Deb! Agree on all of the great flours. Still finding new ones since I’m baking just a little bit more. 🙂