Biscuit Loaf
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix the baking powder with the flour and then add the salt.
Rub in the cold fat until there are no lumps and no grease remains at the bottom of the bowl.
Stir in the cold water until you have a stiff dough.
Bake and serve
Grease a baking pan and turn the dough into it.
Bake until done, testing the center with a skewer; it should come out clean.
Break the bread apart with your hands to serve.
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 main structure as gluten and starch set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, lifting the dough so the loaf rises and becomes light.
- Lard
- Cut into the flour cold, it creates flaky layers and a tender crumb.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour so the mixture binds into a stiff, workable dough.
The step that matters
Rub in the cold fat. Fat must stay cold and be worked evenly into the flour so it stays in small pieces. As it melts in the oven it leaves pockets that make the loaf flaky rather than dense. Warm or overworked fat blends in fully and makes the crumb heavy.
“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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