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Raised Biscuit

A yeast-based biscuit dough that rises overnight and is baked until light brown.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Raised Biscuit

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Raised Biscuit

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. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and make a hole in the center of the flour.

  2. Pour in the warm water or milk, salt, and melted lard or butter, then stir in a little flour.

  3. Add the yeast and mix in as much flour as you can with your hand.

  4. Let the mixture rise overnight.

  5. Add the baking soda and more flour to form a soft dough.

  6. Mold the dough for 15 to 20 minutes.

Shape and rise

  1. Let the dough rise until light again.

  2. Roll out the dough to about ½ inch thick.

  3. Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter.

  4. Form the dough into small balls.

  5. Cover the dough and set in a warm place to rise.

Bake

  1. Brush the sides of the biscuits with warm butter or lard before placing them on the baking sheet to prevent sticking.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until light brown.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the dough structure that holds the rising gas and sets as the biscuits bake.
Yeast
Ferments the dough over a long rise, producing gas that lightens the texture.
Melted lard or butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a richer flavor.
Warm water or milk
Hydrates the flour to form dough and activates the yeast.
Baking soda
Reacts with acid in the dough to release gas and add lift.

The step that matters

Let the mixture rise overnight. The long slow rise lets yeast develop flavor and gas in the dough. Under-proofing leaves biscuits dense, while over-proofing can cause them to collapse or taste sour.

“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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