Page:The White House Cook Book.djvu/278

 254 BREAD -BISCUITS, ROLLS, MUFFINS, ETC.

make it into balls as large as an egg; then roll between the hands to make long rolls (about three inches). Place close together in even rows on well-buttered pans. Cover and let them rise again, then bake in a quick oven to a delicate brown.

BEATEN BISCUIT.

Two QUARTS of sifted flour, a tea spoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sweet lard, one egg; make up with half a pint of milk, or if milk is not to be had, plain water will answer ; beat well until the dough blisters and cracks ; pull off a two-inch square of the dough ; roll it into a ball with the hand ; flatten, stick with a fork, and bake in a quick oven.

It is not beating hard that makes the biscuit nice, but the regularity of the motion. Beating hard, the old cooks say, kills the dough.

An old-fashioned Southern Recipe.

POTATO BISCUIT.

BOIL six good-sized potatoes with their jackets on; take them out with a skimmer, drain and squeeze with a towel to ensure being dry ; then remove the skin, mash them perfectly free from lumps, add a tablespoonful of butter, one egg and a pint of sweet milk. When cool, beat in half a cup of yeast. Put in just enough flour to make a stiff dough. When this rises, make into small cakes. Let them rise the same as biscuit and bake a delicate brown.

This dough is very fine dropped into meat soups for pot-pie.

VINEGAR BISCUITS.

TAKE two quarts of flour, one large tablespoonful of lard or butter, one tablespoonful and a half of vinegar and one teaspoonful of soda ; put the soda in the vinegar and stir it well ; stir in the flour ; beat two eggs very light and add to it; make a dough with warm water stiff enough to roll out, and cut with a biscuit-cutter one inch thick and bake in a quick oven.

GRAFTON MILK BISCUITS.

BOIL and mash two white potatoes ; add two teaspoonf uls of brown sugar ; pour boiling water over these, enough to soften them. When tepid, add one small teacupful of yeast ; when light, warm three ounces of butter in one pint of milk, a little salt, a third of a teaspoonful of soda and flour enough to make stiff sponge ; when risen, work it on the

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