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Dessert

Soda Biscuits

Soda biscuits are unleavened biscuits made with flour, butter, baking soda, cream of tartar, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Soda Biscuits

Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Soda 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. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

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

  2. In a bowl, rub the butter into the flour until well combined.

  3. Stir the cream of tartar into the flour mixture.

Make and shape the dough

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in the warmed water and pour it into the center of the flour mixture.

  2. Mix lightly and quickly until just combined; do not overmix.

  3. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into shapes using a cake cutter or tumbler.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the biscuits on floured baking pans and bake immediately for 20 minutes.

  2. Serve shortly after baking for the best taste.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

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

All-purpose flour
Forms the structure of the biscuits as the main dry ingredient.
Butter
Rubbed into the flour to add fat, tenderness and richness to the crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the cream of tartar and liquid to produce gas that makes the biscuits rise.
Cream of tartar
Acidic partner to the baking soda, releasing carbon dioxide for lift.
Water
Dissolves the baking soda and hydrates the flour to form the dough.

The step that matters

Mix lightly and quickly until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, making the biscuits tough. Working fast also keeps the baking soda and cream of tartar reacting for good rise.

“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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