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Baking Powder Biscuit I

A quick biscuit made with flour, baking powder, salt, lard, butter, and milk-water mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Fannie Merritt Farmer · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Baking Powder Biscuit I

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Mix dry ingredients and sift twice.

  2. Work in butter and lard with fingertips; add liquid gradually, mixing with a knife to a soft dough.

  3. Toss dough on a floured board, pat and roll lightly to one-half inch thickness.

  4. Shape with a biscuit cutter.

Bake

  1. Place on a buttered pan and bake in a hot oven for twelve to fifteen minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

821Calories
21 gProtein
34 gFat
107 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Fannie Merritt Farmer. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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 structure that holds the biscuit together as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas when heated, letting the biscuits rise and become light.
Lard
Coats flour particles to keep the crumb tender and flaky.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor, contributing to tenderness and browning.
Milk and water
Hydrates the flour so the dough binds into a soft, workable mass.

The step that matters

Working in the fat and adding liquid. Fat left in distinct pieces creates flaky layers, while overworking the dough after liquid is added develops gluten and makes the biscuits tough. Mix only until the dough just comes together.

“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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