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Maryland Biscuit

A quick biscuit made with flour, salt, lard, and lukewarm water, baked until golden.

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

Make the dough

  1. Combine flour, salt, and lard in a large bowl and mix until well combined.

  2. Gradually add lukewarm water, stirring until a stiff dough forms.

  3. Knead dough until soft and blisters.

Shape and bake

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Roll out dough and cut into biscuits.

  3. Prick each biscuit with a fork before baking.

  4. Bake until golden brown.

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
Its proteins form gluten, which gives the dough structure and holds the biscuits' shape.
Lard
Solid fat coats the flour and keeps the crumb tender and flaky as it bakes.

The step that matters

Knead dough until soft and blisters. Kneading develops gluten for structure, but overworking a biscuit dough makes it tough. Stop once it is soft and smooth, and handle it gently after that.

“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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