Biscuit (bread)

Last updated
Biscuit
Loveless Cafe Biscuits.jpg
Biscuits with jam
TypeQuick bread
Course Breakfast, lunch, dinner
Place of origin United States
Main ingredients Flour, baking powder, solid fat such as shortening, milk
Food energy
(per serving)
200 [1]   kcal

In the United States, a biscuit is a variety of baked bread with a firm, dry exterior and a soft, crumbly interior. In Canada it sometimes also refers to this or a traditional European biscuit. It is made with baking powder as a leavening agent rather than yeast, and at times is called a baking powder biscuit to differentiate it from other types. [2] Like other forms of bread, a biscuit is often served with butter or other condiments, flavored with other ingredients, or combined with other types of food to make sandwiches or other dishes.

Contents

Biscuits, soda breads, cornbread, and similar breads are all considered quick breads, meaning that they do not need time for the dough to rise before baking. [3] [4]

Biscuits developed from hardtack, which was first made from only flour and water, to which lard and then baking powder were added later. [5] The long development over time and place explains why the word biscuit can, depending upon the context and the speaker's English dialect, refer to very different baked goods.

History

Earlier history

American English and British English use the same word to refer to two distinctly different modern foods. Early hard biscuits (United States: cookies) were derived from a simple, storable version of bread. [6] The word "biscuit" itself originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus , meaning "twice-cooked".

The modern Italian baked goods known as biscotti (also meaning "twice-cooked" in Italian) most closely resemble the Medieval Latin item and cooking technique.

As the English language developed, different baked goods ended up sharing the same name. The soft bread is called a biscuit in North America, and the hard baked goods are called biscuits in the UK. BiscuitsAmerican&British.png
As the English language developed, different baked goods ended up sharing the same name. The soft bread is called a biscuit in North America, and the hard baked goods are called biscuits in the UK.

The differences in the usage of biscuit in the English speaking world are remarked on by Elizabeth David in English Bread and Yeast Cookery. She writes,

It is interesting that these soft biscuits are common to Guernsey, and that the term biscuit as applied to a soft product was retained in these places, and in America, whereas in England it has completely died out. [7]

Early British settlers in the United States brought with them a simple, easy style of cooking, most often based on ground wheat and warmed with gravy. [6] Most were not wealthy men and women, and so it was a source of cheap nutrition.

Ships biscuits were first referenced in the 12th century in a journey Richard I took to Cyprus. They were made of barley, rye and bean flour. [8]

A very similar practice was also popular once with the Royal Navy as hard, flour-based biscuits would keep for long journeys at sea but would also become so difficult to chew that they had to be softened up. These were first introduced in 1588 to the rations of ships and found their way into the New World by the 1700s at the latest.

The biscuit emerged as a distinct food type in the early 19th century, before the American Civil War. Cooks created a cheaply produced addition for their meals that required no yeast, which was expensive and difficult to store. With no leavening agents except the bitter-tasting pearlash available, beaten biscuits were laboriously beaten and folded to incorporate air into the dough which expanded when heated in the oven causing the biscuit to rise. In eating, the advantage of the biscuit over a slice of bread was that it was harder, and hence kept its shape when wiping up gravy in the popular combination biscuits and gravy.

In 1875, Alexander P. Ashbourne patented the first biscuit cutter in the United States, useful for making cookies, cakes, or baking powder biscuits. [9] [10] It consisted of a board to roll the biscuits out on, which was hinged to a metal plate with various biscuit cutter shapes mounted to it.

Later history

The image of Biscuit Bread from a 1917 recipe book. Cooking biscuits - image of Biscuit bread from 1917.png
The image of Biscuit Bread from a 1917 recipe book.

Southern chefs may have had an advantage in creating biscuits. Northern American all-purpose flours, mainly grown in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, are made from the hard spring wheats that grow in the North's cold-winter climate. Southern American bleached all-purpose flours, originally grown in the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee before national food distribution networks, are made from the soft winter wheat that grows in the warm Southern summer. This summer growth results in wheat that has less protein, which is more suited to the creation of quick breads, as well as cookies, cakes and muffins. [11] [12]

Pre-shaped ready-to-bake biscuits can be purchased in supermarkets, in the form of small refrigerated cylindrical segments of dough encased in a cardboard can. These refrigerator biscuits were patented by Ballard and Ballard in 1931. [6]

Preparing

Originally, biscuits were little more than wheat flour and water, baked to form hardtack, which was carried by travelers because it stored for long periods of time. By the early 1800s, commercial baking powder was developed and the biscuit took a form that resembles the modern biscuit.

A typical modern recipe will include baking powder or baking soda, flour, salt, shortening or butter, and milk or buttermilk. The percentages of these ingredients vary as historically the recipe would pass orally from family to family and generation to generation. Biscuits are almost always a savory food item. Sugar is rare or included in only small quantities, and was not part of the traditional recipe. Self-rising flour can be used, which combines leavening agents with flour to simplify mixing.

Biscuits can be prepared for baking in several ways. The dough can be rolled out flat and cut into rounds, which expand when baked into flaky-layered cylinders (rolled biscuits). If extra liquid is added, the dough's texture changes to resemble stiff pancake batter so that small spoonfuls can be dropped upon the baking sheet to produce drop biscuits, which are more amorphous in texture and shape. [13]

Although most biscuits are made without yeast, a type of biscuit called an angel biscuit contains yeast as well, as do those made with a sourdough starter. [14]

Serving

Biscuits may be eaten for breakfast. They are meant to be served warm with a choice of spread of butter, honey, cane syrup, or some fruit-based jam. A savory breakfast is also possible, with biscuits cut in half becoming the Southern version of the breakfast sandwich, in which any combination of Country ham, tomato, scrambled eggs, bacon, or sausage is put in the biscuits' halves as a filling. They are sometimes served with a biscuit warmer, with the aim of keeping the biscuit warm throughout the duration of the meal.[ citation needed ]

For dinner, they are a popular accompaniment to fried chicken, nearly all types of Southern barbecue, and several Lowcountry dishes. [15] They also often figure in to the Southern version of Thanksgiving dinner as well. [16]

Variations

Cheese-flavored drop biscuits Home made cheddar cheese biscuits.jpg
Cheese-flavored drop biscuits

Cat head biscuits (or cathead biscuits) are named because of the larger size of the biscuit (about the size of a cat's head) and somewhat misshapen form. These are normally prepared rolled flat, without layers. [17]

Biscuits may be flavored with other ingredients. For example, the baker may add grated cheddar or American cheese to the basic recipe to produce cheese biscuits. [18] Home cooks may use mass-produced, ultra-processed refrigerator biscuits for a quicker alternative to rolled or drop biscuits.

A sweet biscuit layered or topped with fruit (typically strawberries) and whipped cream is one type of shortcake.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bread</span> Food made of flour and water

Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foods, having been of significance since the dawn of agriculture, and plays an essential role in both religious rituals and secular culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flour</span> Cereal grains ground into powder

Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures. Corn flour has been important in Mesoamerican cuisine since ancient times and remains a staple in the Americas. Rye flour is a constituent of bread in both Central Europe and Northern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cracker (food)</span> Flat, dry baked biscuit

A cracker is a flat, dry baked biscuit typically made with flour. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking. Crackers are often branded as a nutritious and convenient way to consume a staple food or cereal grain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baking powder</span> Dry chemical leavening agent

Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods. It works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid–base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture. The first single-acting baking powder was developed by food manufacturer Alfred Bird in England in 1843. The first double-acting baking powder, which releases some carbon dioxide when dampened and later releases more of the gas when heated by baking, was developed by Eben Norton Horsford in the U.S. in the 1860s.

In cooking, a leavening agent or raising agent, also called a leaven or leavener, is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action that lightens and softens the mixture. An alternative or supplement to leavening agents is mechanical action by which air is incorporated. Leavening agents can be biological or synthetic chemical compounds. The gas produced is often carbon dioxide, or occasionally hydrogen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornbread</span> American bread made with cornmeal

Cornbread is a quick bread made with cornmeal, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States, with origins in Native American cuisine. It is an example of batter bread. Dumplings and pancakes made with finely ground cornmeal are staple foods of the Hopi people in Arizona. The Hidatsa people of the Upper Midwest call baked cornbread naktsi, while the Choctaw people of the Southeast call it bvnaha. The Cherokee and Seneca tribes enrich the basic batter, adding chestnuts, sunflower seeds, apples, or berries, and sometimes combine it with beans or potatoes. Modern versions of cornbread are usually leavened by baking powder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biscuit</span> Sweet baked item

A biscuit, in many English-speaking countries, including Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa but not Canada or the US, is a flour-based baked and shaped food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. Types of biscuit include biscotti, sandwich biscuits, digestive biscuits, ginger biscuits, shortbread biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate-coated marshmallow treats, Anzac biscuits, and speculaas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dough</span> Paste used in cooking

Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavening agents, as well as ingredients such as fats or flavourings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shortbread</span> Scottish biscuit

Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part white sugar, two parts butter and three to four parts plain wheat flour. Shortbread does not contain any leavening, such as baking powder or baking soda. Shortbread is widely associated with Christmas and Hogmanay festivities in Scotland, and some Scottish brands are exported around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soda bread</span> Wheat bread leavened with baking soda

Soda bread is a variety of quick bread made in many cuisines in which sodium bicarbonate is used as a leavening agent instead of yeast. The basic ingredients of soda bread are flour, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk. The buttermilk contains lactic acid, which reacts with the baking soda to form bubbles of carbon dioxide. Other ingredients can be added, such as butter, egg, raisins, or nuts. Quick breads can be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time and labor needed for kneaded yeast breads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crumpet</span> Small unsweetened griddle bread

A crumpet is a small griddle bread made from an unsweetened batter of water or milk, flour, and yeast, popular in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of common wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or bread flour, is high in gluten, with 12% to 14% gluten content, and its dough has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Soft flour is comparatively low in gluten and thus results in a loaf with a finer, crumbly texture. Soft flour is usually divided into cake flour, which is the lowest in gluten, and pastry flour, which has slightly more gluten than cake flour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rusk</span> Hard, dry biscuit

A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the UK, the name also refers to a wheat-based food additive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quick bread</span> Bread leavened with agents other than yeast

Quick bread is any bread leavened with a chemical leavening agent rather than a biological one like yeast or sourdough starter. An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time-consuming skilled labor and the climate control needed for traditional yeast breads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rye bread</span> Type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain

Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour. Compared to white bread, it is higher in fiber, darker in color, and stronger in flavor. The world's largest exporter of rye bread is Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Springerle</span> German biscuit

Springerle is a type of South German biscuit or cookie with an embossed design made by pressing a mold onto rolled dough and allowing the impression to dry before baking. This preserves the detail of the surface pattern. While historical molds show that springerle were baked for religious holidays and secular occasions throughout the year, they are now most commonly associated with the Christmas season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kulcha</span> South Asian flatbread

Kulcha is a Persian term for a disc-shaped loaf of leavened bread. In India, this term is commonly used for regular English bread.

References

  1. ↑ "Biscuits, plain or buttermilk, prepared from recipe". FoodData Central, USDA, Agricultural Research Service. 1 April 2019. FDC ID: 172670, NDB Number: 18016. Archived from the original on 2019-04-03. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  2. ↑ Gisslen, Wayne; Griffin, Mary Ellen; Bleu, Le Cordon (2006). Professional Cooking for Canadian Chefs. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 931–933. ISBN   978-0-471-66377-5 . Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  3. ↑ Irma S. Rombauer; Marion Rombauer Becker; Ethan Becker (2006). The Joy of Cooking. New York: Scribner. p.  627. ISBN   978-0-7432-4626-2.
  4. ↑ Ojakangas, Beatrice A. (2003). Quick Breads. Sally Sturman (ills.). University of Minnesota Press. p. 1. ISBN   978-0-8166-4228-1. Archived from the original on 2024-04-02. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  5. ↑ Dupree, Nathalie; Graubart, Cynthia (2011). Southern Biscuits. Gibbs Smith. p. 12. ISBN   9781423621775 . Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  6. 1 2 3 Olver, Lynne (June 24, 2012). "history notes—cookies, crackers & biscuits". The Food Timeline . Archived from the original on August 4, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  7. ↑ Elizabeth David (1977). "Yeast Buns and Small Tea Cakes" ("Soft Biscuits" section). English Bread and Yeast Cookery. Penguin Books Ltd., London ISBN   0-7139-1026-7
  8. ↑ "Ships Biscuits the naval hardtack". Royal naval museum.
  9. ↑ "Science and Technology: African Inventors in the Americas". Archived from the original on 2024-04-02. Retrieved 2021-04-30.
  10. ↑ US 170460,Ashbourne, Alexander P.,"Improvement in biscuit-cutters",published 1875-11-30,issued 1875-11-30
  11. ↑ Dewan, Shaila (2008-06-18). "Biscuit Bakers' Treasured Mill Moves North". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  12. ↑ "How to make the best Buttermilk Biscuits". pinchmysalt.com. 18 September 2007. Archived from the original on 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  13. ↑ Dupree, Nathalie; Graubart, Cynthia (2011). Southern Biscuits. Gibbs Smith. pp. 12–16. ISBN   978-1-4236-2176-8.
  14. ↑ Dupree, Nathalie; Graubart, Cynthia (2011). Southern Biscuits. Gibbs Smith. p. 94. ISBN   978-1-4236-2176-8.
  15. ↑ "The 11 Best Buttermilk Biscuits in Charleston". May 2, 2019. Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. Retrieved October 5, 2019.
  16. ↑ "15 Dishes Every Southern Thanksgiving Dinner Should Have". The Spruce Eats. Archived from the original on 2019-09-23. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  17. ↑ Cara Rose (April 4, 2019). "The Appalachian Cat Head Biscuit". Pocahontas Times. Retrieved May 5, 2024.
  18. ↑ Better Home's and Garden Cookbook
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