Did you know you can have tender, fluffy, and flaky homemade whole wheat biscuits? With the right kind of whole wheat flour and a little technique, you can have your biscuits and eat them too.
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This is our tried and true homemade whole wheat biscuit recipe. We make them a few times a month, they are always a huge hit with our families.
We consider biscuits a staple recipe along with sandwich bread, burger buns, tortilla wraps, cornbread, pie crust, dinner rolls and noodles.
What's Cool About This Recipe
- Flaky: These whole grain biscuits are flaky, buttery and tender.
- 100% whole wheat: This fluffy biscuit recipe uses all whole wheat flour, soft white wheat or hard white wheat flour works the best.
- Easy to make: The dough is easy to make and comes together in about 10 minutes.
- Tried and true recipe: We have been making these whole wheat biscuits for 15+ years.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Whole wheat flour: we use whole wheat flour milled from soft white wheat (whole wheat pastry flour) or hard white wheat.
- Sugar: We like to give a little sweetness to our biscuits.
- Baking powder
- Cream of tartar
- Salt
- Cold butter: This recipe is engineered for unsalted butter, you can use salted but we recommend cutting the salt amount in the recipe by half. It is crucial that the butter COLD.
- Milk: we use whole milk,
- Egg
See recipe card for quantities.
Variations
Add your favorite fresh (chopped) or dried herbs to the dry ingredients. Some of our favorites to add are:
- Dill
- Rosemary
- Basil
You can bake these biscuits drop style, we use a cookie scoop to scoop out the dough. Reduce the baking time to 8-11 minutes for a 2-3 tablespoon size scoop.
Instruction Photos
Overview of instructions with photos. See recipe card for quantities and full instructions.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 425°F and Grate the butter using a box grater. Place the butter into the freezer until you are ready to use it.
Step 2: In a large mixing bowl stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt together.
Step 3: Whisk the milk and egg together.
Step 4: Add the butter to the dry ingredients and toss to combine.
Step 5: Add the milk and egg, and stir quickly with a heavy duty fork until a shaggy dough forms.
Step 6: Turn the dough onto a generously floured surface.
Step 7: Knead 5-6 times to bring the dough together. Shape into a rectangle about ¾ - 1 inch thick.
Step 8: Cut the dough in half long ways and then in thirds short ways to make 6 pieces.
Step 9: Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking tray about 2 inches apart.
Step 10: Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Serving Suggestions
We usually serve biscuits as a side with soup or stew. Some other ways we like to serve them are:
- Biscuits and gravy
- Served warm with honey butter
- With butter and jam
- Use for making breakfast sandwiches
Storage
Store leftover biscuits in a tightly sealed bag or container for 2-3 days.
How to Freeze
Place the cooled biscuits in a freezer safe resealable bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. For extra protection you can wrap the individual biscuits tightly in plastic wrap and then place in the bag. Thaw at room temperature.
Tips From Our Kitchen
Use cold ingredients, this will help the biscuits rise properly.
If you store your whole wheat flour in the freezer there is no need to bring it to room temperature.
If you’re using fresh milled flour make sure to cool it completely before using.
Don’t overwork the dough, the less you handle it the better.
FAQ
It could be that your dough was too warm. Make sure all your ingredients are cold and that you don’t handle the dough more than necessary.
Also check the dates on your baking powder and cream of tartar to make sure they aren’t out of date.
This is usually from not enough flour in the dough.
Related Recipes
📖 Recipe
Whole Wheat Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (270 g) soft white wheat flour whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 tablespoons (26 g) granulated cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon (12 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon sea salt reduce to ¼ teaspoon if using salted butter
- ½ cup (113 g) cold butter unsalted
- ½ cup (120 g) whole milk
- 1 large egg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425° F.Grate ½ cup (113 g) cold butter on the big side of a box grater, place into the freezer until ready to use.
- In a large mixing bowl combine 2 ¼ cups (270 g) soft white wheat flour, 2 tablespoons (26 g) granulated cane sugar, 1 tablespoon (12 g) baking powder, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, and ½ teaspoon sea salt.
- Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients and toss with a fork to combine.
- In a small bowl whisk together ½ cup (120 g) whole milk and 1 large egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir with a heavy duty fork until it forms a shaggy dough.
- Turn the dough onto a generously floured surface and knead 5-6 times to bring the dough together. Shape into a rectangle about ¾ - 1 inch thick. Cut with a sharp knife or pastry knife into 6 pieces.
- Place the biscuits on an ungreased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
We calculate these nutritional facts using an estimate and they can vary drastically between ingredients used and measuring technique. So, they are not intended for medical use.
Did you make this recipe? We would love to hear from you!