Cream-of-Tartar Biscuit

Ingredients

• a quart of flour
• a teaspoonful of soda
• two of cream-of-tartar
• one of salt
• two of sugar
• a table-spoonful of butter
• a scant pint of cold milk

Method

1. 1

   Mix the flour with soda, cream-of-tartar, salt, and sugar.

2. 2

   Rub in the butter.

3. 3

   Wet with cold milk, stirring into a smooth ball.

4. 4

   Roll to an inch thick on a floured board, cut out biscuits, and place loosely in buttered pans.

5. 5

   Bake for twelve to eighteen minutes, depending on size and oven heat.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Miss Parloa's kitchen companion (1887) by Maria Parloa, page 421. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Cream-of-tartar Biscuit. Biscuit are made by a variety of methods, some being raised with yeast, others produced quickly with the aid of soda and cream-of-tartar, or with baking-powder, soda, and sour milk, whereas others are made by the use of preparations of phosphates, like Horsford's. When yeast is used, the process is a slow one. Care must be taken to have the temperature right, and to raise the dough until it is light, yet not so much as to destroy its sweetness. With soda and cream-of-tartar, or any acid and alkali, the work must be very rapid to insure success. By any of the methods the aim is to obtain carbonic acid gas to lighten the dough. With yeast we get it by fermentation, which goes on slowly ; but witli an acid and alkali (as with soda and cream-of- tartar) we get it by the union of the two substances. This union does not take place until moisture is added ; therefore we may mix the acid and alkali and keep them together for years and still find them good, if they have been kept dry and from the air. Baking-powders are proof of this. They are, or should be, only a mixture of pure soda, cream-of-tartar, and a little starch, which is needed when grinding the two other substances together. By remembering a few things when using an acid and alkali in cooking, it is possible to be morally sure of suc- cess. First, the gas is given off as soon as the mixture is moistened. Second, the greater the heat, the greater the expansion of gas, air, and steam. To demonstrate this, put a teaspoonful of baking-powder into each of two tumblers ; and by pouring ice-water into one, you will find that the gas expands and is given off slowly, whereas by pouring boiling water into the second tumbler, you fill it with expanded gas in an instant. As our ob- ject in using the alkali and acid is to obtain this gas, and thus make the dough or batter light, we should so use BREAD, ROLLS, AND MUFFINS. 797 them that but little of the gas will be lost. Now, to make perfect biscuit or duinplings we must mix the acid and alkali dry in the flour. This is always done if baking-powder be used, and should be if soda and cream- of-tartar be employed. The soda should be ground fine on a plate with a knife or spoon, and then measured, and put into the flour with the cream-of-tartar. After a thorough mixing, the ingredients should be rubbed through a sieve. The mixing and handling of the dough should be rapid and light ; the biscuit should be cut rather small, and baked in a hot oven; and as soon as finished they should be removed from the oven, as they will become tough and dark if allowed to remain even a short time. To Make Biscuit. — Mix with a quart of flour (meas- ured before sifting) a teaspoonful of soda, two of cream- of-tartar, one of salt, and two of sugar, and after rubbing all through a sieve, rub into the mixture a table-spoonful of butter. Wet with a scant pint of cold milk

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.