Biscuit Bread
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All you need are four simple ingredients and an iron skillet to make the simplest, most delicious old-fashioned Biscuit Bread. Ready in just 30 minutes, this quick bread bakes up like a pan of cornbread, but the texture is definitely soft like a biscuit.
Light and fluffy with a crispy bottom, this big ‘ole biscuit doesn’t require kneading, rolling or cutting out the dough like regular biscuits, so it takes literally minutes to prep for the oven.
If you’ve been wary of trying your hand at making homemade biscuits, this skillet biscuit is a great place to start.
Cut Biscuit Bread into wedges or break off a hunk and serve hot with sausage gravy and eggs, blueberry jam, or my personal favorite, melted butter with honey.
Biscuit Bread
It’s been said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I can’t say I disagree. At our house, weekday mornings call for easy, healthy breakfasts, but on weekends we’re all about a big brunch with plenty of bacon and often a plate of hot biscuits.
Since it’s just the two of us at home these days, though, I don’t make my bread flour biscuits as often as my hubby would like. Mostly, I don’t want to clean up the kitchen counter afterwards — that’s being lazy, I know!
With this Biscuit Bread recipe, you can skip kneading the dough and cutting out biscuits. Just dump the dough right in the pan — instead of on the kitchen counter — and let it bake.
So much quicker and easier, and you still get the delicious flavor and soft texture of a hot homemade biscuit.
Ingredients
- Self-rising flour — or all-purpose flour + baking soda + salt
- Vegetable shortening — for the batter as well as for greasing the pan
- Unsalted butter — adds flavor to the batter
- Buttermilk — a definite must for the best tasting biscuits!
Instructions
- Add the flour and vegetable shortening to a large bowl. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to blend in the shortening until you have coarse crumbs.
- Grate cold butter into the bowl and stir it in with a fork.
- Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk. Stir until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. The batter will be lumpy, but if it seems too thick you may add more buttermilk.
- Spread the batter into an iron skilled that has been greased with a couple tablespoons vegetable shortening.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 425 degrees. Invert the bread onto a plate. Let cool for a couple of minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.
PRO TIP: If you’d like the top of your Biscuit Bread to be more golden brown, at the end of baking brush with 2 tablespoons melted butter and return to the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes.
What if I don’t have a cast iron pan?
You may also bake Biscuit Bread in a round cake pan or in a loaf pan, but for the crispy bottom a cast iron skillet works best.
Can I use all-purpose instead of self-rising flour?
Self-rising flour already has baking powder and salt added to it, so if all you have in the pantry is all-purpose flour, you’ll need to add these leavening ingredients. For every 1 cup of self-rising flour you are substituting, whisk together 1 cup all-purpose flour (plain flour), 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
What if I don’t have buttermilk?
Unless you’re a buttermilk fan or do a lot of baking, you may not always have it on hand. It’s simple enough to make your own substitute, though.
Pour a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar into a one cup measure. Pour enough milk into the cup to finish filling it up. Whisk together, then leave it along for 5 minutes. Use as you would buttermilk in any recipe.
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Let’s bake!
Biscuit Bread is best served hot from the oven, but leftovers will keep fresh for a couple of days when sealed tight.
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Biscuit Bread
Ingredients
- ¼ cup vegetable shortening plus 2 tablespoons
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- ¼ cup unsalted cold butter grated
- pinch baking soda
- 1 cup buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch cast iron skillet with the 2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening.
- Add the flour and ¼ cup vegetable shortening to a large bowl. Use a pastry cutter or fork to work the shortening into the flour until you have coarse crumbs.
- Grate the butter into the bowl and stir gently to incorporate.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk.
- Stir until all the dry ingredients are mixed in and you have a wet dough. Empty the dough into the cast iron skillet and smooth the top with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden on the top. Immediately invert the bread onto a plate. Cut into wedges and serve with butter, honey, jams, or jellies.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Life Love and Good Food does not claim to be a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information shared on this site is only an estimate. We recommend running the ingredients through an online nutritional calculator if you need to verify any information.
About Sheila Thigpen
Recipe Developer, Food Photographer, Food Writer
Sheila Thigpen is the publisher of Life, Love, and Good Food — a Southern food blog — and the author of Easy Chicken Cookbook and The 5-Ingredient Fresh and Easy Cookbook. After 20+ years in the publishing industry, she retired in 2018 to focus on her own creative endeavors full time. She and her husband live near the beautiful Smoky Mountains and have a precious little granddaughter who has stolen their hearts. As an influencer, Sheila has collaborated with brands like Creamette, Kroger, HERSHEY’S, Hamilton Beach, Garafalo Pasta, OXO, Smithfield, Valley Fig Growers, and more.
