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Kentucky Biscuits

A quick biscuit recipe using flour, salt, lard, and cold water, baked until golden.

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, combine the flour and salt.

  2. Rub in the lard until well mixed.

  3. Add enough cold water to form a stiff dough.

  4. Knead the dough for 1 hour or pound for 20 minutes with a rolling pin until soft.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough and cut into biscuits.

  2. Prick holes in each biscuit before baking.

  3. 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

Flour
Forms the main structure of the dough, giving the biscuits their body as it sets in the oven.
Lard
Coats flour particles and shortens gluten strands, giving a tender, flaky texture.

The step that matters

Working the stiff dough. Kneading or pounding develops gluten, which makes the dough soft and pliable. Too little working leaves it crumbly, while too much can make the biscuits tough.

“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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