Biscuits have always been a bit of a challenge for me, especially since we moved to Denver. But I really wanted to make these classic Butter Swim Biscuits, so I did some research and came up with a recipe that works in the Mile High City!
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Attitude for Altitude
You've got to be prepared to experiment with baking at 5,279 feet! If you use a standard recipe at high altitude, breads and other baked goods will rise too fast and then fall, resulting in a shorter, denser bread or biscuit. You'll have do some searches on how to adjust recipes for high altitude, including changing the ingredients and cooking time and temperature. It took me a couple of tries to get this recipe right, and now I can make these wonderful biscuits without fear of falling!
Ingredients You'll Need
- flour
- buttermilk
- butter
- baking powder
- sugar
- salt
Tips and Tricks
Make your own buttermilk!
My grocery store is often out of buttermilk. It this happens to you, or if you don't want to buy a whole quart for a recipe that only uses one cup, you can make a substitute quickly and easily.
Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a one-cup measuring cup, then fill to one cup with milk. Done!
Make These High-Altitude Butter Swim Biscuits!
It's really easy to make these biscuits. Here's what you'll need: buttermilk, flour, melted butter, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
Mix all the dry ingredients together, then pour in the buttermilk and fold with a spatula until you get a moist dough.
Pour the melted butter into an 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan. Resist the temptation to pick the pan up and drink the butter!
Pour the dough into the pan and spread it out evenly with a spatula. You want it to touch the sides of the pan. The dough will be swimming in butter, hence the name. Pre-cut the dough into nine squares. I used my pastry scraper for this.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Here are the biscuits out of the oven. Hey, someone already swiped one! Don't turn you back on your biscuits! Trust me, these biscuits won't stay around long.
I tracked down the missing biscuit. Here it is, ready for honey or jam or whatever you like to put on your biscuits.
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📖 Recipe Card
High-Altitude Butter Swim Biscuits
Special Equipment Needed
- 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 4 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Combine all of the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir to mix.2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder, 4 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon salt
- Add the buttermilk and mix until you have a moist dough.2 cups buttermilk
- Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl and pour it into an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish. Make sure that your pan isn't too small or shallow so that the butter doesn't oveflow the pan while it's baking!1 stick butter
- Pour the dough into the pan and use a spatula to spread it evenly across the pan until it touches the sides.
- Cut the unbaked dough into 9 squares.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Nutrition Estimate
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Umm Muhammad says
I made this recipe using oatmilk (I can't drink cow's milk).
I read elsewhere that using plant-based milk can make biscuits dense. I followed the recommendations and made the adjustments to the flour. The biscuits came out fluffy in the middle! I forgot to set a timer, so the top and bottom were a little more golden brown than I wanted. Thankfully they weren't burnt. Unfortunately they were dense the next day. I will be trying this recipe again using cow's milk for the rest of my family.
Top Chef says
Thanks for the review! Baking can be tricky enough if you follow the recipe, but if you have food restrictions and have to switch ingredients out it becomes a chemistry experiment! Different types of flour, milk, sugar, or even butter can end up with less than perfect... or even unusable results. I've found that a lot of biscuits are dry or dense the next day. If that happens I put them in a microwave for 30 seconds and sometimes that helps soften them again.
Beth says
I was looking for an easy high altitude recipe for biscuits with dinner in process. I live at 7400' and the ingredient portions worked great for me. I used a 7" x 11" glass pan which was the closest I had to your size recommendations. They turned out great! My timing was a little off of the rest of the dinner so my husband was ready to eat them under cooked. He waited and enjoyed them with butter and honey as did I. For lunch today I cut one biscuit in half and put butter, garlic salt and shredded parmigianno reggiano on top of the open biscuit and toasted it in the toaster oven. Also very yummy!
Chef Grey says
I'm glad the biscuits worked for you! Adapting baking recipes to high altitude is a bit tricky. It took a few tries to get this one right. They are just about the easiest biscuits in the world! It's also easy to boost the flavor by adding some herbs, or a bit of garlic powder and onion powder.