Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Threadneedle Street Biscuits
Ingredients
Directions
Make the first biscuits
Mix two pounds of sifted flour of the very best quality with three ounces of good butter, and work it into the smallest possible crumbs.
Add four ounces of fine, dry, sifted sugar, and make them into a firm paste with new milk.
Beat this forcibly for some time with a rolling-pin.
When it is extremely smooth, roll it the third of an inch thick.
Cut it with a small square cutter.
Bake the biscuits in a very slow oven until they are crisp to the centre: no part of them should remain soft.
Half a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda is said to improve them, but we have not put it to the test.
Carraway-seeds can be added when they are liked.
Make the second biscuits
Make some fine white flour into a very smooth paste with new milk.
Divide it into small balls.
Roll them out, and afterwards pull them with the fingers as thin as possible.
Prick them all over.
Bake them in a somewhat brisk oven from ten to twelve minutes.
Mix a slight pinch of salt with some fine sifted flour.
Make it into a smooth paste with thin cream.
Bake the biscuits gently, after having prepared them for the oven like those which precede.
Store them as soon as they are cold in a dry canister, to preserve them crisp.
Make the yeast biscuits
Make the dough as for fine white bread, adding from half to a whole ounce of butter to the pound kneaded into it after it has risen.
Break the butter small, spread out the dough a little, knead it in well and equally, and leave it for about half an hour to rise.
Roll it a quarter of an inch thick.
Prick it well all over.
Cut out the biscuits.
Bake them in a moderate oven from ten to fifteen minutes.
Proceed as for Bordyke bread, but use new milk for them.
Work three ounces of butter into two pounds of flour before the yeast is added.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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 of the biscuit dough once mixed with milk and butter.
- Butter
- Works into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the crumb.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Adds sweetness and helps the biscuits brown as they bake.
- New milk (in the method)
- Moistens the flour so it binds into a workable paste.
The step that matters
Bake until crisp to the centre. Biscuits baked in a very slow oven must dry out fully; any remaining moisture in the centre leaves them soft and prevents them keeping crisp.
“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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