Beaten Biscuit
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.
Make the dough
Rub lard and salt into the flour.
Mix with cold water to form a stiff dough.
Knead the dough for ten minutes.
Beat the dough hard with a rolling pin, turning it over until it blisters and becomes light and puffy.
Shape and bake
Cut with a small biscuit cutter and place on a baking pan, spaced apart.
Prick each biscuit with a fork.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for twenty minutes.
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 gluten network that gives the dough its structure and sturdy body.
- Lard
- Coats flour particles to shorten the dough, giving a tender, flaky-leaning crumb.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour to bind the dough while keeping the fat firm.
The step that matters
Beating the dough with a rolling pin. Repeated beating works the gluten and traps air, so the dough blisters and becomes light and puffy. Under-beating leaves the biscuits dense and hard instead of crisp and layered.
“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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