The only store-bought biscuits worth buying, according to professional bakers

This brand won for taste, texture, and convenience.

If you ask Mark Metzger, the best shortcut biscuits are the ones you prep ahead and keep on ice.

"Biscuits are quick and easy to prepare from scratch. Since this is the case, I've always got backup in the freezer ready to go," confirms Metzger, who is the executive pastry chef at Madeline Hotel & Residences, Auberge Collection. (Try freezing them shaped but not baked for best results, then bake from frozen until fluffy and golden.) "Keep in mind that if you have time for a box mix, you have time to make homemade biscuits. I promise!"

Whether you're whipping up cream biscuits, buttermilk biscuits, or drop biscuits, in Metzger's opinion, "Biscuits are always going to be better when made fresh from scratch."

Still, we don't always have the time, energy, or enthusiasm to DIY. Enter store-bought biscuits baked in your oven, served still warm and topped with a generous pat of butter. We're melting at the possibility already.

But with so many different packages, tubes, cans, and mixes now available at the grocery store, which one is best? We asked four professional bakers, and one classic came out on top.

Our Panel of Biscuit-Savvy Bakers

• Jessica Anderson, baker and owner of Jess Desserts in Grimes, Iowa
• Mark Metzger, executive pastry chef at Madeline Hotel & Residences, Auberge Collection in Telluride, Colo.
• Samantha Tierpack, owner of Sammy Lou's Bake Shop in Strasburg, Va.
• Alisa Woods, owner of Sift n Sprinkle Bakery in Des Moines, Iowa

Qualities of the Best Store-Bought Biscuits

When attempting to separate the flaky from the flops in the biscuit market, the pros tell us they look for:

• A short ingredient list. "If homemade isn't an option, I would choose the one with the least and cleanest ingredients," Metzger says. "I avoid biscuits made with too many ingredients. Biscuits are a simple perfection. Even on a large factory scale, the product needs to be made with love to be worth it."
• Tempting texture and flavor. For Sammy Lou's Bake Shop owner Samantha Tierpack, texture is non-negotiable. "A dry biscuit is an automatic dealbreaker. The same goes for anything dense and crumbly. If I can't put butter on it without it falling apart in my hand, it's not the one," she says. That being said, a biscuit should have a little density to be able to hold its own atop a pot pie or cobbler, Tierpack adds. Of course, taste is crucial, too. Sift n Sprinkle Bakery owner Alisa Woods prefers anything "homestyle" or "buttermilk" over anything billed as butter-flavored, which "have a weird taste," according to Woods.
• Easy to prepare. As a busy mom and the owner of Jess Desserts, Jessica Anderson tells us that convenience is a key consideration. "When it comes to an item like this, I'm going for convenience," Anderson says. "I prefer refrigerated biscuits that just need to be baked, no other prep required."
• A reliable brand. In addition to the national names, nearly every supermarket has its own store brand. Woods favors bigger brands over generics, which "tend to leave a film on my tongue."

The Best Store-Bought Biscuits, According to Professional Bakers

It was a close competition, but according to the bakers we surveyed, Grands Flaky Layers Biscuits won by a crumb. Both Woods and Anderson nod to the nostalgic appeal and verify that they grew up with a tube of these in their family's fridge.

"There's a certain nostalgia that comes from the pop of that tube," Anderson says. Woods has fond memories of this sensation as well. "When I was growing up, my family called them 'whap it' biscuits because you peel the outside off and then 'whap' it on the counter to bust it open," Woods explains. "They're a classic for a reason!"

Beyond the clever container and cheerful Pillsbury mascot, these eight-pack biscuit cans stand out due to superior splitting abilities, courtesy of the flaky layers that are "perfect for topping with jam," if you ask Anderson. Even though fruit spreads are welcome, the buttery, slightly salty, and faintly tangy biscuits are tasty enough to enjoy on their own.

"Grands has mastered the flaky layers," Woods tells Allrecipes. "They've added so many options since I was younger, but I keep coming back to the original. But now that I see Grands offers frozen biscuits, I might try those next."

Beyond the OG refrigerated biscuits and their frozen counterparts, she (and you) can now bake up Grands in new, tasty flavors like Buttermilk, Honey Butter, Sweet Hawaiian, and Southern Homestyle, depending on when and how you plan to enjoy them.

Honorable Mentions

Coming in a close second is a beloved restaurant recipe that's ultra-easy to recreate at home: Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix. When time is tight, Tierpack reaches for a box of this dry mix "without hesitation." Just stoke the garlic-herb-scented flour blend with butter, shredded Cheddar, and water and bake according to package directions, and you'll be treated to 10 biscuits that "hit that sweet spot that's so hard to find in a store-bought biscuit: light and fluffy, but still moist all the way through," Tierpack swears."For an all-purpose biscuit, I want something that can stand on its own. The Red Lobster Cheddar Bay mix does exactly that." Woods awards these her runner-up, and admits that "I used to really enjoy the Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix before I mastered my own drop biscuit recipe."

For an alternative canned plan, Metzger points us to Annie's Organic Flaky Biscuits. They use organic—and fewer—ingredients than many other competitors, he validates. "Plus, their formula is dairy-free in case I'm sharing with folks who prefer or need that. This is what we use at home," Metzger says of the eight-serving tubes that are flaky and easily flex in sweet and savory applications.

How To Enjoy Biscuits Like a Pro Baker

Regardless of whether you're following Metzger's lead and freeze your favorite DIY recipe, bake up one of these store-bought solutions, or outsource all the prep and simply snag a batch of fast food biscuits, the four baking experts we spoke to agree that there are several stellar ways to savor them.

Anderson likes to keep things classic and pair a flaky biscuit with fruit and scrambled eggs for breakfast. Metzger perks up his weekend brunch with biscuits and gravy or "killer" breakfast sandwiches. As for mom-of-two Woods, she keeps a tube or two handy to use as a topping for chicken pot pie or to bake over canned chicken noodle soup poured into a heat-safe mug or baking dish. "That's a struggle meal I don't mind eating again and again," she tells us.

A few other pastry chef-approved ways to enjoy biscuits any time of day:

• Dad's Breakfast Pizza
• Monkey Bread
• Bubble Pizza
• Garlic and Herb Pull Apart Bread
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Butter Biscuit Peach Cobbler
• Easy Apple Dumplings
• Best Ever Cinnamon Pull Aparts

Read the original article on Allrecipes