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Carolina Biscuit

A biscuit made with flour, salt, lard, and cold water, kneaded, rolled, and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Carolina Biscuit

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

  1. Sift the salt into the flour.

  2. Work in the lard until well combined.

  3. Add cold water gradually to form a pliant dough.

  4. Knead the dough for a few minutes.

  5. Place the dough on a floured surface and beat it for 30 minutes.

Shape and bake

  1. Flour your hands and pinch off small pieces of dough.

  2. Roll each piece into a ball, pinching one side together.

  3. Flatten each ball to about ½ inch thick using a rolling pin.

  4. Preheat a skillet or oven with a lid until hot enough to brown flour.

  5. Place the biscuits in the skillet, add small embers, and bake quickly.

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 bond with water.
Lard
Works into the flour to add tenderness and a short, flaky texture.

The step that matters

Beat the dough for 30 minutes. Extended beating develops gluten in the dough, giving the biscuits a firm, chewy structure. Beating too little leaves them less cohesive, while the lard must stay distinct from the flour for tenderness.

“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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