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 the 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 spaced apart on a baking pan.
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 structure of the dough once mixed with water.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the biscuits and keeps them short.
- Cold water
- Hydrates the flour so it forms a stiff, workable dough.
The step that matters
Beating the dough with a rolling pin. Beating the dough hard develops the gluten and trapped air, which makes it blister and become light and puffy. If the dough is beaten too gently, the biscuits stay dense rather than light and flaky.
“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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