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Emergency Biscuit
Use the recipe for baking-powder biscuit, using more liquid to make the dough soft enough to drop from the spoon. The amount of the liquid in this recipe, in most cases, will be just half the amount of flour (two cups of flour to one cup liquid). Drop the biscuit on to a well-greased pan, or bake in greased muffin-tins, in a hot oven (450 degrees-460 degrees F.).
This is a variation entry rather than a standalone recipe: it turns the book's rolled baking-powder biscuit into a drop biscuit by loosening the dough. Everything hinges on the flour-to-liquid ratio given here.
- The base recipePeriod baking-powder biscuit recipes of this era typically run to something like 2 cups flour, 4 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 to 4 tablespoons fat, though the book's own version is not reproduced on this page. The instruction here is to raise the liquid to 1 cup, which gives a dough soft enough to drop from the spoon in a mound rather than hold a shape.
- Modern baking powderBoth single- and double-acting powders were in use when this book was written, and period quantities tend to be generous by current standards. With today's double-acting powder, about 3 teaspoons to 2 cups of flour is usually ample; a heavier hand can leave a detectable aftertaste.
- LiquidThe original says only 'liquid'; milk or buttermilk both work. If you use buttermilk, soda is customarily substituted for part of the baking powder to neutralise the acid, the proportion being a matter of judgement.
- OvenThe stated 450 to 460F is correct and should not be reduced. Drop biscuits need fast heat to set the outside before the soft centre spreads.
- TimingThe original gives none. Expect 10 to 12 minutes on a greased sheet, 12 to 15 in muffin tins, until the tops are set and browned at the edges.
- HandlingStir only until the dry flour disappears. With no rolling or cutting, overmixing is the main way to toughen these, and a slightly lumpy batter is generally preferred to a smooth one.
- Shape and yieldTwo cups of flour gives about 12 biscuits. Drop them in mounds roughly two tablespoons each, leaving an inch between; in muffin tins fill each cup no more than two-thirds.
- ServingBest eaten soon after leaving the oven; drop biscuits dry out faster than rolled ones.