Easy Cast Iron Sourdough Cheddar Chive Biscuits
These cast iron sourdough cheddar chive biscuits come together so quickly! A few simple ingredients and fresh chives from the garden make a delicious spring side dish everyone will enjoy.
Using the Early Spring Garden Harvest
I love spring. The robins sing. The grass starts to turn green and grow. My kids start running around barefoot. My daffodils surprise and delight us with multicolored blooms. Everything about spring is magical.
When spring comes my attention naturally turns to the garden. Although I still need to wait 8 weeks to plant tomatoes or corn, it makes me happy to watch the garlic sprouts and the chives shoot up with vigor.
Spring is often a time when our winter food stores from last year’s garden are dwindling. I am often eagerly awaiting the garden soil to dry out enough to plant some quick lettuces and radishes to supplement our meals with fresh ingredients.
That is one of the reasons I love chives so much. They are a perennial which means they come back every year with little effort from me. Year after year, they bless our meals with their distinctive flavors.
Chives are one of my favorite herbs. Their gentle onion-like taste pairs so well with so many things.
The first things I think of when I see the chives start growing are these sourdough discard cheddar chive biscuits. Homemade biscuits are such a comfort food.
Flaky biscuits pair well will soup, pasta, or meat and potatoes!
A Variation of Basic Sourdough Biscuits
Adding cheddar cheese and chives to my basic sourdough biscuit dough is fantastic way to change things up. We eat tons of biscuits at my house.
They are an easy side dish to pull together on a busy weeknight. My kids appreciate the subtle change of pace of adding in some cheddar cheese and chives to their favorite biscuit recipe.
Maintaining a Sourdough Starter
Maintaining a sourdough starter can seem overwhelming at first, but once you practice for a few weeks, you will really see how easy it is. Taking care of my sourdough has become part of my kitchen routine and does not take much time at all.
I have been making sourdough bread recipes since 2018. My sourdough starter is really part of the family now. I love creating new sourdough recipes and this biscuit recipe is one of my favorites.
Part of maintaining your sourdough starter involves feeding it flour and water. This process makes the volume of your starter increase over time until you may have more sourdough starter than you need for your weekly bread making.
You can use sourdough in quick recipes to add flavor even if you are not using the sourdough for a long fermenting process. You can add sourdough discard (excess sourdough starter) to any recipe that has liquid and flour.
Sourdough discard recipes are a terrific way to use up your extra sourdough. Next time you have extra, try using it in a new recipe!
Tips for Making Sourdough Cheddar Chive Biscuits
- Use a cheese grater to shred the butter into the dry ingredients. This is so much better than trying to cut the butter into small chunks.
- Use your hands to mix up the dough. I have found that my hands do a much better job of mixing almost any dough than any kitchen utensil. You can also use a fork, but I prefer my hands!
- It does not matter if your sourdough is bubbly or spent in this recipe. It is just in there for flavor. It is not going to help the biscuits rise much.
- For tall, fluffy biscuits, cut your biscuits using a sharp-edged biscuit cutter or cookie cutter. Your biscuits will rise better if the edges are cut and not smashed. I use a 3-inch biscuit cutter. Do not rotate the cutter when you push down. Push straight down and make a nice clean cut through your dough. The best biscuits are flaky and tall!
- I usually make these biscuits to pair with dinner, but they are just as good the next morning for a savory breakfast!
Ingredients:
Flour: I use all-purpose flour in this recipe. You could substitute in 1/2 cup of freshly milled whole wheat flour to add extra nutrition without changing the flavor too much.
Baking Powder and Baking Soda: This recipe has sourdough discard in it, but the rise comes from these leavening agents. Baking powder and baking soda give these biscuits their fluffy, soft interior! Who doesn’t like fluffy flaky biscuits?
Salt: Salt is a particularly important ingredient in biscuits. Don’t skip the salt or your biscuits will be bland and less flavorful.
Cold Butter: The flakiness of the biscuits depends on the butter being cold! Room temperature butter will not give you the results you want. You can put the stick of butter in the freezer for a few minutes to get it extra cold before you add it in.
Chives: Fresh chives from the garden or grocery store really make these biscuits shine! I use a big kitchen knife to chop the chives into small pieces before mixing them in. You could also use dried chives in a pinch.
Shredded Cheese: Use a quality cheddar cheese in these biscuits. I really like the taste of sharp cheddar cheese, but medium cheddar works great too. The cheese on the outside of the biscuit that gets slightly toasted is the best part!
Honey: I love using honey in these biscuits instead of white sugar. Honey is a natural unrefined sweetener and adds a subtle sweet flavor to the biscuits.
Sourdough discard: For this recipe you can use active sourdough starter or discard. It does not make a difference either way!
Milk: I use cold whole milk in these biscuits, but you could also use cold buttermilk to add more depth of flavor. Both work just fine.
Tools
Large Bowl
Measuring Cups and spoons
Cheese grater
Pastry blender (optional)
Rolling pin (optional)
Biscuit cutter or cookie cutter
Cast Iron Skillet or Cookie Sheet
Bench Scraper (optional)
How to Make Cast Iron Sourdough Cheddar Chive Biscuits
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix these dry ingredients together with your hands.
Use the cheese grater to shred the butter into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Use your hands or a pastry cutter to mix the butter and flour mixture together. I mix until the butter is fully incorporated into the flour.
Add in the chives and cheddar cheese. Again, use your hands to incorporate the cheese and chives into the mixture.
Add in the honey, sourdough starter, and milk. Stir until nicely incorporated.
Roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thickness onto a lightly floured surface and cut the biscuits. Make sure you press straight down when cutting the biscuits.
This will help them rise better. You will have to roll out the dough and cut it a few times to use all the dough. A bench scraper can be helpful if your biscuit dough is sticking to the surface.
Place the sourdough cheddar biscuits onto a well-seasoned cast iron skillet or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. I love using cast iron in this recipe because it gives the biscuits a nice golden brown finish on the bottom.
Bake biscuits in a 400 degree oven for 15-17 minutes.
If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars or comment below! Tag me on Instagram @eastforkgrowing
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Easy Cast Iron Sourdough Cheddar Chive Biscuits
These cheddar chive biscuits come together so quickly for a delicious side dish!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 4 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup sourdough discard
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- Use a cheese grater to shred the butter into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Using a fork, mix the butter into the dry ingredients until it is evenly distributed.
- Add in the chives and the cheddar cheese and stir with the fork until the cheese and chives are incorporated well.
- Add the sourdough discard, honey, and milk and stir with the fork until a soft, shaggy dough forms.
- Dust a flat surface with flour and place the biscuit dough on the surface.
- Using your hands, pat the dough into a rectangle until it is about 1/2 inch thick.
- Using a biscuit cutter, cut out 6-7 biscuits and place them in a well oiled cast iron skillet. Gather the remaining dough and pat out again to cut 2-3 more biscuits. It's fine if they are touching in the cast iron pan!
- Bake in preheated oven for 15-17 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 biscuitAmount Per Serving: Calories: 215Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 370mgCarbohydrates: 22gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 5g