Skip to main content
Dessert

Maryland Biscuit

A quick, lard-based biscuit from Maryland.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Maryland Biscuit

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

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

  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt.

  3. Rub the lard into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

  4. Gradually add the cold water and mix until a dough forms.

Shape and bake

  1. Knead the dough until it blisters.

  2. Shape the dough into small biscuits by hand.

  3. Bake the biscuits immediately 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

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the dough once mixed with water.
Lard
Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and a short, flaky texture.
Cold water
Hydrates the flour so the dough holds together.

The step that matters

Rubbing the lard into the flour. The lard must stay in distinct coarse crumbs rather than fully blending in. Solid fat coating flour particles keeps layers separate and makes the biscuits tender; over-mixing or warm fat results in a dense, tough texture.

“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.

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes