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No-Soda Biscuit
In the morning set a sponge of: 1 cup lukewarm skim milk, or whole milk 1 cake compressed yeast (1/2 cake will do if it is not desired to hasten the process) 10 ounces sifted pastry flour (2 1/2 cups well shaken down) When this sponge is light, add: 1/4 cup warm oil 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar 4 ounces sifted pastry flour (1 cup well shaken down) Mix this very thoroughly. It will be too soft to knead. Set in a warm place to rise. When light, take the dough out on a floured bread board, roll it out three-fourths inch thick, and cut into biscuit with a biscuit cutter. Place the biscuit on an oiled pan, and set them in a warm place to rise. Let them rise about one-fourth inch, then bake.
If this dough is to be used for shortcake, use one-third cup of oil, and the dough may be baked in a sheet instead of as biscuit, if desired. Then the sheet is split, and used as baking-powder shortcake is used. Or it may be baked as biscuit, and served as individual shortcakes.
A yeast-raised biscuit built in two stages over a single day, with oil in place of butter or lard. The original gives no oven temperature, which is the one thing you must supply.
- Oven temperatureBake at 425F for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are light gold. A sheet for shortcake wants the same heat but closer to 20 minutes; check the centre before pulling it.
- Compressed yeastOne cake of compressed (fresh) yeast is about 0.6 oz, roughly equivalent to 2 1/4 teaspoons of active dry or instant yeast. The half-cake option simply slows the sponge, which is why the recipe says it is a matter of hastening the process rather than of quality.
- Pastry flourPastry flour is soft and low in protein; the weights given (10 oz for the sponge, 4 oz after) are more reliable than the cup measures. All-purpose will work but gives a chewier, breadier biscuit, so hold back a spoonful or two of liquid if the dough feels slack.
- Warm oil, not hotWarm means blood temperature, only enough to keep the oil fluid and avoid chilling the sponge. Oil that is genuinely hot will kill the yeast you have just built up, so aim for comfortably warm to the touch.
- Timing the two risesThe sponge takes roughly 1 to 2 hours at room temperature to go light and bubbly; the finished dough another hour or so. The shaped biscuits need only the quarter-inch rise the recipe specifies, which is 20 to 30 minutes -- longer and they spread rather than climbing in the oven.
- Handling a soft doughThe dough is deliberately too soft to knead. Flour the board and the top of the dough generously, roll rather than press, and cut straight down without twisting the cutter.
- YieldAbout 14 ounces of flour and a cup of milk makes one modest batch: biscuits from a 2-inch cutter, or a single sheet for shortcake. The exact count depends on how thickly you roll and how much you re-roll the scraps.
- The shortcake variationRaising the oil to a third of a cup, as the recipe directs, makes a richer, more tender crumb. The sheet is easier to split while still warm.