No more dense, whole grain bricks posing as biscuits. These Spelt Buttermilk Biscuits are fluffy with a great texture and delicious flavor!
If you bake a lot with whole wheat flour but haven’t tried spelt, you really should. And if you don’t bake much with whole wheat because you don’t care for the texture or flavor, even more of a reason to try spelt. It’s been classified as an ancient form of wheat but is really very different – not just in flavor and texture, but genetically very different. I’ll be posting an info article on spelt in the future with all the fascinating details, but the bottom line is this: Compared to wheat, spelt is more nutritious, higher in protein, is less “sandy” in texture, has a much milder and sweeter flavor, and bakes up more nicely than whole wheat. Interestingly too, for reasons we’ll discuss later, many people who have a wheat sensitivity are able to tolerate spelt.
So here are some buttermilk biscuits made with spelt that are both nutritious and delicious! I recently made these to accompany a soup recipe I was developing (a creamy cabbage kielbasa soup. I’ll get that recipe posted soon, too!), and they were a hit.
Let’s get started!
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl.
Add the butter.
Use your hands or a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand.
Add the buttermilk and stir just until the flour and buttermilk comes together.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead about 10-15 times, be careful not to over-knead or the biscuits won’t rise properly and will be dense.
Flatten the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Use a biscuit or round cookie cutter to cut biscuits out of the dough. Carefully bring the scraps together and cut biscuits out of the remaining dough.
Bake the biscuits on a non-stick or lined cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes.
Serve immediately and enjoy while warm. Makes 6 3-inch biscuits
- 2 cups spelt flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 cup buttermilk
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and use your hands or a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand. Add the buttermilk and stir just until the flour and buttermilk comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead about 10-15 times, be careful not to over-knead or the biscuits won't rise properly and will be dense. Flatten the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Use a biscuit or round cookie cutter to cut biscuits out of the dough. Carefully bring the scraps together and cut biscuits out of the remaining dough.
- Bake the biscuits on a non-stick or lined cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy while warm.
- Makes 6 3-inch biscuits
SP Reid says
Those look good, I think I might try to make them this weekend, thanks! I remember when biscuits were good at almost any restaurant but that was pre-1980, they were good at anyone’s house as well, I don’t know what happened to biscuits these days, but you are right, they all seem hard as a rock. Thanks for the recipe!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
It’s virtually impossible to get a really light and fluffy texture with whole wheat. Spelt will still be a bit denser than white flour as well, but it’s MUCH better than whole wheat in those respects. Plus, I think it just has a better, milder flavor. Especially if you’ve never tried spelt before, do give them a try, SP Reid!
jesusan says
My spoon and tastebuds will be anxiously awaiting the soup recipe. I’m usually not a big soup eater, but in this case cabbage and kielbasa are magic words… I don’t have issues with wheat intolerance, but am interested in trying spelt. These biscuits would be a great way to start. I also like that the recipe does not make a huge number of biscuits, since I’m feeding only two people.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I prefer spelt over whole wheat, Susan. Much milder and its texture in baking is much softer and lighter. Unfortunately it is more expensive and I think that’s mostly just because it’s not as common here in the U.S. as it is over in Europe. Hopefully that changes.
Anonymous says
Do you have a recipe for whole wheat buns as I do have whole wheat flour on hand that I need to use up?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
You can directly substitute whole wheat flour in this recipe.
Anonymous says
I made your recipe today. I love spelt flour. I use mostly sprouted flours for their nutritional value. I am married to a nutritionist. I replaced 1/2 cup of the flour with organic potato starch. While my biscuits did not rise as beautifully as yours, they were still delectable, with a light crumb, but not crumbly, absolutely the best biscuits I have ever attempted.
I could not find what size cutter you used, so I used a 2 1/2 inch cutter and ended up with 8 biscuits instead of 6. They baked for 14 minutes. Great recipe!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m happy you enjoyed the biscuits! Thanks for the feedback on their outcome using some potato starch.
JuliaVS says
Oh my! I made these yesterday for today. They were the perfect, healthy biscuit. They were not heavy but rather wholesome and satisfying, and they had such a wonderful, buttery taste. I have been very scared to try making ANY kind of bread from scratch, but these were simple and yet tasted like they were difficult to make. I was shocked when they actually did rise the way they were supposed to. I never imagined I could do that. : )
I love your site. Many thanks for a truly wonderful recipe for a food item that seems essential to life.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Julia, I am beyond thrilled to hear that! To hear that you accomplished something that you were afraid to try before – and with such perfect results! – just gladdens my heart :) Thank you!
Alostair McLaughlin says
Just made some 50-50 spelt-rye biscuits based on this recipe. Replaced one cup of whole grain spent with a cup of whole grain rye. Fantastic. Even one of my cats likes it.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Awesome, Alostair, thanks for the feedback! So glad your cat enjoyed them, too :)
Reb says
This dough is too wet. 3/4 cup of the buttermilk is a much better starting point. They could also use more salt and more sugar, they’re a bit bland.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Reb, while some recipes call for 3/4 cup, a 2:1 flour to liquid ratio is pretty standard. Just take a look at whole wheat/whole grain biscuit recipes on the web, including the Food Network, and you’ll see the 2:1 ratio repeated. Any less and the biscuit dough tends to be too dry the biscuits will come out dense and hard. As to sugar, these are healthy biscuits so I deliberately don’t add more than a teaspoon. As for salt, salt quantity always comes down to personal preference and varies from person to person – obviously feel to add as much or little as you want (same with the sugar).
Dave says
Just made them for the first time and they are great. Used Xylitol for sweetener instead of sugar (1:1). Otherwise followed the directions exactly. Very tasty and look fine. Even impressed my wife who is an excellent cook.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
That’s awesome, Dave, congrats on impressing your wife and thanks so much for the feedback!
Jani says
I’ve made these several times, and everyone (including myself) loves them. I personally add honey instead of sugar and add the buttermilk gradually as to avoid making the mixture too wet.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thanks for the feedback, Jani, so glad they’ve been a hit!
Viola Gary says
The recipe is great. I have a question. I am looking for affiliate sites for spelt. Can you direct me? Thank You.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Viola, thank you! You bet, Amazon carries it for a good price for a 4-pack: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VLVM74?ie=UTF8&tag=thedargou09-20&camp=1789&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=B004VLVM74
helen says
Just made these. No modifications except using buttermilk powder and water as I didn’t have fresh buttermilk on hand.
Like others, I found the dough to be pretty sticky and had to handle it very lightly as a result, but who cares since they came out delicious. Lacking a biscuit cutter, I cut the dough into nine pieces with a knife and it needed the full 12 minutes to bake, so I’m not sure how long it would have taken if I’d made six out of the dough as called for here. (I don’t like using glasses to cut biscuits as the pressure seems to seal the edges and frustrate the rising process.)
Personally I like the flavor of spelt; having gone wheat-less for a while I now find wheat-based things gluey and unappealing. So they’ll work great in my household. Thanks for the recipe!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m thrilled to hear that, Helen, thanks so much for the feedback! I agree completely with your assessment of using glasses to cut the dough. I love the flavor of spelt, too. I’ll tell you though, as much as I love spelt, lately I’ve been using einkorn more than anything and I am in LOVE with it. It’s the most ancient form of wheat and has remained completely unaltered and thus is supposed to be the easiest form of wheat for your body to process (spelt is a few generations newer than einkorn and as such has undergone some alterations in its genetic structure). Though like spelt, einkorn still has gluten, it’s a different kind of gluten than the stuff causing all the problems today. As much as you love spelt, if you haven’t already experimented with einkorn I think you will really be impressed.
Irina says
Wonderful biscuits! Made them a few times already, today made them again and I doubled the recipe, I also added some fresh chopped herbs and shredded cheddar cheese… man, sooo good! Will be freezing half of them so we can enjoy later. Thanks for the recipe!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Fantastic, Irina, I’m so glad to hear that, thank you!
Kacey says
Have you ever tried to make ahead by freezing the dough? We love these biscuits! Thank you for the recipe!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Kacey, yes you can freeze them. Place the unbaked biscuits on a cookie sheet, cover with plastic wrap and freeze. Then you can remove them and place them in ziplock bags in the freezer. Bake them frozen (you can brush them with a little butter if you like) and they’ll usually need about an extra 5 minutes or so of baking time.
Anonymous says
Followed recipe exactly and the resulting dough was way too wet to knead… So I made drop biscuits instead. They were tasty and I would make this again. Do you know if a cup of spelt weighs the same as a cup of all purpose flour? I much prefer to weigh flour to eliminate differences in measuring cups.
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m glad you enjoyed them, thanks for the feedback. Yes, weighing is definitely more accurate and I’ve been working on updating my older recipes to include software that will allow my readers to click a button and have the ingredients converted to metric. For anyone else, I would just add that if the dough is too wet, add a little more flour until it’s the right consistency.
Samiyah says
Absolutely delicious were the biscuits I made following this recipe!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
I’m so glad, Samiyah, thank you!
Pamela Funderburg says
I was happy to find your recipe when I was searching for spelt buttermilk biscuits this evening. This is my first time baking with spelt. I measured the flour by weight in grams according to the package. After cutting in the butter, I was careful not to overwork the dough, and it was just right, not too dry or too wet. I have a 2 1/2″ biscuit cutter, which gave me 10 biscuits. I baked these for 12 minutes at 450 as your recipe states, and they were perfect. They actually are pretty light and fluffy. I like the nutty flavor, which as you said is milder than whole wheat. There is no bitterness from the baking powder either. I look forward to more recipe experiments with spelt–especially since I ended up with quite a bit that I ordered online! Also I enjoy your newsletter. Thank you!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
That’s wonderful, Pamela, thank you so much!