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Baking

Maryland Biscuits

A quick biscuit made with flour, lard, salt, and cold water, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Maryland Biscuits

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the flour and lard until well combined.

  3. Gradually add cold water until a stiff dough forms.

  4. Beat the dough on a heavy wooden surface with a pestle until it is full of blisters.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into small cakes and prick each with a fork.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the structure of the dough once mixed with water.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderizes the biscuits and keeps the crumb short and flaky.
Cold water
Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together without warming the fat.

The step that matters

Beating the dough until it is full of blisters. Beating works the dough and builds layers and air pockets that give these biscuits their texture. Stopping too early leaves them dense, while the cold, stiff dough keeps the lard solid so it creates flakiness in the oven.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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