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.
Prepare the dough
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
Rub the lard and salt into the flour.
Mix in the 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 begins to blister and is light and puffy.
Shape and bake
Cut the dough with a small biscuit cutter and place the biscuits on a baking pan, spaced apart.
Prick each biscuit with a fork.
Bake 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.
- Lard
- Shortens the dough, tenderizing it and adding flakiness.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour to form a stiff dough that can be worked.
The step that matters
Beat the dough with a rolling pin. Beating folds and stretches the gluten repeatedly, building strength and air so the dough blisters and becomes light and puffy. Stopping early leaves the biscuits dense and hard.
“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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