If you like fluffy, flaky baking powder biscuits, then you’ll love this easy recipe for high altitude cheesy herb biscuits. Biscuits are such comfort food, and I adore hot, fluffy, flaky biscuits served alongside a bowl of soup, filled with ham and mustard, or slathered with butter and homemade strawberry jam. In today’s homemade biscuit recipe, I’ve added dried thyme and sharp cheddar cheese, as well as bits of crispy bacon. They’re the perfect brunch biscuit.
You might also love these Parker House dinner rolls with maple butter, buttermilk cinnamon rolls, and fluffy milk buns.
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Ingredients
- All-Purpose Flour + Corn Starch. Using a combination of all-purpose flour and corn starch makes incredibly soft, tender biscuits.
- Baking Powder. Leavens the biscuits so they rise tall and fluffy.
- Coarse Kosher Salt. Flavor.
- Dried Thyme. You can use any herbs you like, but the thyme is especially good in these cheesy herb biscuits.
- Unsalted Butter. Unsalted butter adds richness and flavor to the biscuits, as well as those flaky layers.
- Cheddar Cheese. Like the herbs, use any cheese you love and that pairs nicely with the herbs.
- Bacon. Adds a salty, crunchy texture that’s just delicious.
- Milk. Moistens and binds the biscuit dough together.
- Egg. Used as an egg wash, brushed over the tops of the biscuits before baking to promote browning.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Instructions
Mix the dough.
- Preheat the oven to 450F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cook the bacon until crisp, then crumble. Set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, baking powder, salt and thyme. Use a pastry cutter to cut in 6 tablespoons butter until crumbly. Stir in the cheese and crumbled bacon.
- Stir in the milk just until moistened and use your hands to gather the mixture up into a craggy dough, but don’t overwork the dough. There will be some moist bits, and some dry bits, and that’s exactly how it should be. If it’s too dry, add a little more milk, a tablespoon at a time. You don’t want the dough too wet; it should be just moist enough to barely hold together.
Roll, fold and cut the dough.
- On a lightly floured surface, gently pat or roll the dough out to 1 inch thick, using a little more flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking.
- Fold the dough into thirds, then thirds again; folding the dough gives the biscuits lots of flaky layers. Using a little more flour as needed, pat or roll the dough out again to about 1 inch thick.
- Cut into rounds with a 2-inch biscuit cutter, trying to cut as many biscuits as you can the first time. Do not twist the cutter, just cut straight down and lift it straight back up. Gather up the scraps, press them together and cut those as well (the scrap biscuits don’t bake quite as prettily, but are always tasty). You should be able to cut around 10 biscuits.If you like, you can also use a sharp knife or a bench scraper to cut square biscuits, which will reduce the amount of dough scraps that you need to re-roll.
Bake.
- Place on the parchment-lined baking sheet so that the biscuits are close together, about 1/2 inch apart.
- Use a fork to break up the egg, then use a pastry brush to lightly brush the beaten egg over the tops of the biscuits.
- Bake until risen and a deep golden brown on top, about 12-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt the remaining two tablespoons butter in a small bowl. As soon as you take the biscuits out of the oven, brush the melted butter on top of the biscuits, then sprinkle with flaky salt. Serve immediately.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you add corn starch to your biscuit dough?
- The addition of corn starch lowers the percentage of gluten in the flour mixture and tenderizes the dough for light, fluffy biscuits. If you have access to a soft, winter wheat flour, such as White Lily (not self-rising) with a good reputation for fluffy biscuits, you can use that instead of the flour/corn starch combination.
Can I use buttermilk or non-dairy milk instead of whole milk?
- Yes, you can use any kind of milk that you like in this biscuit recipe.
How do I make tall, flaky biscuits?
- Use cold ingredients. Your ingredients should be as cold as possible for the best, flakiest biscuits. If it’s warm in your kitchen, it’s helpful to chill the bowl before you start mixing up your biscuit dough.
- Fold the dough. After rolling the dough out, fold it into thirds, like a letter, then in thirds again. Roll out once more to cut your biscuits. This quick and simple step of folding the dough creates 6 layers of dough, which will give your biscuits lots of flaky layers as they rise in the oven.
- Don’t twist the biscuit cutter. When you cut your biscuits, it can be tempting to twist the biscuit cutter, but don’t do it. When you twist the cutter, it seals the edges of the dough, preventing it from rising as much as it should.
- Bake the biscuits close together. Use a baking sheet that’s only as big as you need it, and line it with parchment paper. You want to crowd your biscuits close together, almost touching, which helps them rise tall. If you space your biscuits far apart, they’ll spread out more as they bake instead of rising tall and flaky.
What’s the best way to reheat leftover biscuits?
- Microwave at 50% power for 45 seconds.
- Split the biscuits and toast them for a few minutes in a toaster/convection oven.
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High Altitude Cheesy Herb Biscuits with Bacon
Fluffy, flaky baking powder biscuits, with thyme, sharp cheddar cheese and bacon.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Rolling Pin, Bench Scraper & 2-inch Biscuit Cutter
Ingredients
- 4 strips bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus extra for rolling
- ¼ cup corn starch
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 8 tbsp cold, unsalted butter, divided
- ⅔ cup grated cheddar cheese
- ¾ cup cold whole milk
- 1 large egg, for egg wash
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cook the bacon until crisp, then crumble. Set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, baking powder, salt and thyme. Use a pastry cutter to cut in 6 tablespoons butter until crumbly. Stir in the cheese and crumbled bacon.
- Stir in the milk just until moistened and use your hands to gather the mixture up into a craggy dough, but don’t overwork the dough. There will be some moist bits, and some dry bits, and that's exactly how it should be. If it's too dry, add a little more milk, a tablespoon at a time. You don't want the dough too wet; it should be just moist enough to barely hold together.
- On a lightly floured surface, gently pat or roll the dough out to 1 inch thick, using a little more flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking.
- Fold the dough into thirds, then thirds again; folding the dough gives the biscuits lots of flaky layers. Using a little more flour as needed, pat or roll the dough out again to about 1 inch thick.
- Cut into rounds with a 2-inch biscuit cutter, trying to cut as many biscuits as you can the first time. Do not twist the cutter, just cut straight down and lift it straight back up. Gather up the scraps, press them together and cut those as well (the scrap biscuits don’t bake quite as prettily, but are always tasty). You should be able to cut around 10 biscuits.If you like, you can also use a sharp knife or a bench scraper to cut square biscuits, which will reduce the amount of dough scraps that you need to re-roll.
- Place on the parchment-lined baking sheet so that the biscuits are close together, about 1/2 inch apart.
- Use a fork to break up the egg, then use a pastry brush to lightly brush the beaten egg over the tops of the biscuits.
- Bake until risen and a deep golden brown on top, about 12-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, melt the remaining two tablespoons butter in a small bowl. As soon as you take the biscuits out of the oven, brush the melted butter on top of the biscuits, then sprinkle with flaky salt. Serve immediately.
Notes
Biscuits are best served fresh, on the morning they’re made. But leftovers are still great, and the best way to reheat them is to lightly toast them in a convection oven until warm, or to microwave them briefly at 50% power.
These baked up perfectly at 4,000 ft! Thanks for a super and simple recipe, and also for explaining how folding creates layers. I’ve had biscuit envy for decades now, and your folding method did the trick. I may have lost count and gone overboard in my excitement, though 😆 My biscuits rose so tall that some fell over!
I’m so glad you love them! Yes, extra folding and layering does make them rise super tall and then fall over as they bake, so I only do a few folds.
Could you substitute the whole milk for buttermilk?
Yes, milk works just as well.