Cold Butter Drop Biscuits with Milk and No Rolling
Eight large drop biscuits made by cutting cold butter into flour, adding enough cold milk for thick scoopable dough, and baking in a skillet.
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 240 g all-purpose flour 2 cups, lightly measured
- 14 g baking powder 1 tablespoon
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt approximately 4 grams
- 113 g unsalted butter ½ cup, very cold and cut small
- ¾–1 cup cold milk 180–240 milliliters; start with ¾ cup and add only as needed
Skillet and Optional Finish
- 1 teaspoon butter for greasing skillet
- 1 tablespoon melted butter optional, for brushing baked tops
Instructions
- Preheat to 450°F and grease a 10-inch cast iron skillet with the separate teaspoon butter. Whisk flour, baking powder, and fine salt together.
- Cut the very cold butter into small pieces and work into the flour with a pastry cutter or fork until coarse and crumbly, retaining small butter bits.
- Stir in ¾ cup cold milk. Add more 1 tablespoon at a time only if needed, up to 1 cup total, to form very thick scoopable dough. Avoid extended mixing.
- Drop about 8 generous quarter-cup mounds into the skillet, with sides just touching if needed. Bake 16–20 minutes until golden and cooked inside, checking a middle biscuit for raw dough. Rest 5 minutes and optionally brush with melted butter.
Notes
Milk is an adjustable total of ¾–1 cup, not an extra full cup after the first addition. Fine salt is specified for consistency. Yield is about eight large rough-shaped biscuits.