Which is Better: Homemade or Canned Biscuit Dough?

Homemade and store-bought biscuit dough both give almost equally tasty biscuits, but the question is which is better, or to be precise – which is healthier? 

Making biscuits at home requires time, some skills, patience, and of course, quality ingredients and a good recipe. Should you make an effort and make biscuits from scratch? 

What about canned biscuit dough? You don’t have to worry about how your biscuits will turn out – you have to cut the dough and preheat the oven. It looks like a great solution when you have a sweet tooth and want something delicious in no time. 

Let’s see the pros and cons of homemade vs. canned biscuit dough.

Which is better – homemade or canned biscuit dough?

As mentioned before, both alternatives can be tasty and beautifully soft, and airy. Still, there is one huge difference. In our opinion, homemade biscuit dough is a better solution, and here is why:

When you’re making biscuit dough at home, you can use ingredients of the highest quality: good butter, milk with a fat percentage of your choice, flour from a good manufacturer, brown sugar, and real Belgian chocolate, for example. You can find a recipe that calls for less sugar if you’re trying to watch your weight.

You are in control when making biscuits from scratch.

On the other hand, Canned biscuit dough contains ingredients you wouldn’t put in your homemade dough. Canned biscuit dough is supposed to have a long shelf life. According to the USDA, you can use it even two months after expiration. For extended shelf life, manufacturers have to use many food additives which keep the dough fresh and soft.

Are homemade biscuits healthy?

We wouldn’t exactly call homemade biscuits a healthy snack, but they can be more beneficial than store-bought ones depending on the ingredients you use.

If you’re on some unique diet plan, you can avoid sugar in your biscuits altogether. Here is a recipe for Healthy Butter Biscuits without sugar. Use quality ingredients: non-GMO flour and real butter instead of shortening. That way, your biscuits will be as healthy as baked goods can be.

What ingredients do homemade biscuits contain?

The main ingredients of biscuit dough are wheat flour, sugar, and fats.

• Wheat flour contains protein, which combined with liquid develops gluten. Gluten formation is responsible for the elasticity and strength of the dough.
• Sugar gives a recognizable sweet taste, but it also adds to the texture of the dough.
• Fats are equally important for perfect biscuits, as the previous two ingredients. Fats give texture, taste, and a certain mouthfeel to the biscuit.

Of course, there are more ingredients such as baking agents (baking soda or baking powder), liquids (water, milk, or buttermilk), salt. Depending on the recipe you use, you may add fruit, nuts, or chocolate to your biscuit dough.

Tip: When making biscuit dough from scratch, you have the freedom to choose the best ingredients you can find on the market. Always buy non-GMO flour and healthy fats, such as real butter, coconut oil, or lard.

Are store-bought biscuits healthy?

Store-bought biscuits can be lower in calories and sugar than homemade biscuits. They could be a good solution if you’re counting calories, but keep in mind that most manufacturers use cheaper, lower-quality ingredients and aim for quantity over quality. Even if those biscuits are lower in calories and sugar, that doesn’t mean they are suitable for you.

Still, store-bought biscuit dough is a good alternative when you don’t have time to knead biscuit dough from scratch. You can buy a big can of biscuit dough for a low price, bake as many biscuits as you like, and save the rest in the fridge or freezer for later.

What ingredients does canned biscuit dough contain?

Canned biscuit dough can contain cheaper ingredients than those you would use at home. Some of them are unhealthy cheap fats, bleached enriched flour, white sugar, preservatives, natural and artificial flavors that enhance the taste.

For example, here are is the list of ingredients of Pillsbury Original Biscuits: Enriched Flour Bleached (wheat flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Palm And Soybean Oil, Sugar, Palm Kernel Oil, Baking Powder (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate), 2% Or Less Of Dextrose, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Xanthan Gum.

For comparison, homemade biscuit dough usually contains only six ingredients: flour, butter, milk, baking agent, sugar, and salt.

Homemade biscuit dough vs canned biscuit dough: Pros and cons

Let’s see what pros and cons are when comparing homemade and canned biscuit dough:

	Pros	Cons
Homemade Biscuit Dough	Controlled Ingredients High-quality, simple Ingredients Better taste Versatile recipes you can use Healthier alternative	Kneading and baking dough requires more time Quality Ingredients are more expensive
Store-bought Biscuit Dough	Inexpensive Long-lasting Easy to portion Always available You don’t need time for kneading Biscuits are ready in 15 minutes or less It can be lower in calories and sugar	Low-quality Ingredients No sugar usually means artificial sweeteners are used (which can be bad for your health) Highly processed Contain preservatives and artificial flavors and colors Don’t have the taste of homemade biscuits

Nutrition Facts: Homemade vs Store-Bought Biscuits

Here is a comparison of nutrition facts for Pillsbury store-bought biscuit and one medium-sized homemade buttermilk biscuit. A store-bought biscuit has fewer calories and less fat, but you’ll have to look at a bigger picture here, such as the quality of ingredients, types of fat used, sugar, etc.

	Homemade biscuit	Store-Bought Biscuit
Size	One medium-sized biscuit (60g)	One biscuit (58g)
Calories	212 kcal	178 kcal
Fat	9.8 grams	6.1 grams
Total Sugar	27 grams	27 grams

Benefits to making biscuits from scratch at home

Making biscuit dough at home has its benefits, and we’re going to name just a few of them:

• You use only a few ingredients, so make sure they are the best quality ingredients. Buy non-GMO flour, real butter, coconut oil, or lard. 
• You know what quantities of ingredients you’re using.
• Your biscuit dough doesn’t contain additives, food colorings, or preservatives, therefore, it is healthier than the store-bought biscuits.
• You’ll enjoy fresh biscuits made from scratch.

What ingredients to avoid in store-bought biscuits?

Reading the label with sorted ingredients on a product can be confusing. There are so many terms we don’t understand (the longer the words, the less healthy products), but mainly, you should avoid these:

• Trans fats
• Biscuits containing many different types of sugars such as sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, rice syrup, agave, brown sugar, cane sugar, palm sugar, etc.

Healthy homemade biscuit swaps

Biscuits are hard to resist, but if you want to fit into your skinny jeans, you should keep an eye on your calories intake. Here is some advice:

• Replace some or all flour in your biscuit recipe with whole-wheat flour.
• Replace half of the butter with yogurt. 
• To boost your metabolism add some raisins, nuts, or seeds in your biscuits, instead of chocolate and heavy cream.
• You can replace sugar with honey, ripe banana, or maple syrup.
• Bake small biscuits and trick your brain – instead of one biscuit, eat two – only smaller.

Citation:

• https://www.rachaelraymag.com/food/battle-of-the-biscuits