Baking Powder Biscuits

BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS.--The ability of the bread maker as a cook is very often judged by the biscuits they makes; but they are really very simple to make, and if recipes are followed carefully and measurements are made accurately, only a little experience is required to produce excellent ones. The principal requirement in making baking-powder biscuits, is that all the ingredients be kept as cold as possible during the mixing. Tiny, thin biscuits may be split, buttered, and served with tea, while larger ones may be served with breakfast or luncheon. In order to utilize left-over biscuits of this kind, they may be split and toasted or dipped quickly into boiling water and heated in a quick oven until the surface is dry.

BAKING-POWDER BISCUITS (Sufficient to Serve Six)

• 2 c. flour 1 tsp. salt
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tb. fat
• 3/4 c. milk

Mix and sift the flour, salt, and baking powder. Chop the fat into the dry ingredients until it is in pieces about the size of small peas. Pour the milk into the dry ingredients, and mix them just enough to take up the liquid. Make the mixture as moist as possible, and still have it in good condition to handle. Then sprinkle flour on a molding board, and lift the dough from the mixing bowl to the board.

Sprinkle flour thinly over the top and pat out the dough until it is about 1 inch thick. Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter, and place the biscuits thus cut out on baking sheets or in shallow pans. If a crusty surface is desired, place the biscuits in the pan so that they are about an inch apart; but if thick, soft biscuits are preferred, place them so that the edges touch. Bake 18 to 20 minutes in a hot oven.

EMERGENCY BISCUITS.--Emergency biscuits resemble very closely baking-powder biscuits, and so they should, because the recipe given for baking-powder biscuits may be used for emergency biscuits by merely adding more milk--just enough to make the dough a trifle too moist to handle with the hands. When the dough is of this consistency, drop it by spoonfuls in shallow pans, or on baking sheets. Then bake the biscuits in a hot oven for 18 to 20 minutes.