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Dessert

Beaten Biscuits

Beaten biscuits are made by mixing flour, lard, salt, and water, then beating the dough and baking until golden.

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

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

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, rub the lard into the flour until well mixed.

  2. Stir in the water quickly with your hands until it forms a stiff dough.

  3. Beat the dough until smooth, about 30 minutes.

Shape and bake

  1. Divide the dough into small pieces and shape them into biscuits about ½ inch thick.

  2. Bake the biscuits 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, as its proteins develop into gluten when mixed and beaten.
Lard
Coats the flour particles, shortening the gluten network and giving the biscuits a tender, crisp bite.

The step that matters

Beat the dough until smooth. Prolonged beating works the dough so its gluten strengthens and becomes elastic. This gives the biscuits their firm, dense texture. Stopping early leaves a crumbly biscuit that breaks apart.

“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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