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Maryland Biscuits

A simple biscuit made with flour, lard, water, salt, and baking powder.

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Mix salt, flour, and lard together.

  2. Add water and work the dough well.

  3. Beat the dough for 1000 times.

Bake

  1. Shape into small biscuits, prick with a fork.

  2. Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) for 20 minutes.

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

Flour
Forms the structure of the dough once mixed with water.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderizes the biscuits and keeps them short.
Water
Hydrates the flour so gluten can develop into a cohesive dough.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking to help the biscuits rise.

The step that matters

Beat the dough for 1000 times. Extended beating develops gluten and toughens the dough, while too little working leaves it crumbly. Work the dough enough to bind it without overworking it into a tough texture.

“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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