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Fruit Shortcake
2 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking-powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon sugar 1/3 cup shortening 3/4 cup milk Butter Mix and sift the dry ingredients and work in the shortening with the fingers or a knife. Gradually add enough milk to make a soft dough, mixing with a knife. Toss the dough on to a floured board and tap and roll to one-half inch thickness. Bake in sheets for a large shortcake or cut with a biscuit cutter for individual shortcakes. Bake in a hot oven for twelve minutes. When done, split into two parts, butter and put sweetened fruit between the layers and on top. Serve hot with cream. Any fresh berries, peaches, oranges, bananas, or stewed fruits, fresh or dried, may be used for shortcake.
A plain baking-powder biscuit dough, rolled thick and split for fruit. The whole thing stands or falls on how briefly you handle the dough.
- Oven temperatureA "hot oven" in this period is usually reckoned at roughly 400-450F. Twelve minutes suits a half-inch round at that heat; a full sheet will likely want longer and should be checked for a dry centre.
- ShorteningHere this means lard or a solid vegetable fat such as Crisco. Butter works and tastes better, but keep it cold and cut it in only to the size of small peas.
- Handle it once"Toss and tap" is deliberate: the dough should be barely brought together. Kneading or re-rolling scraps gives a tough, bready shortcake instead of a tender one that splits cleanly.
- Baking powderFour teaspoons to two cups of flour is a heavy hand by current standards. Modern double-acting powder at that rate can leave a metallic edge; 2 1/2 to 3 teaspoons is closer to today's practice.
- FlourPeriod all-purpose flour was often softer than today's. If the dough feels stiff, add milk a spoonful at a time until it is soft enough to be sticky at the edges.
- Splitting while hotSplit the biscuits as soon as they come out, while the steam is still working, and butter both cut faces at once so the fruit juice does not soak them to pulp.
- The fruitSugar the fruit and let it stand 20-30 minutes to draw out juice before assembling. Berries and peaches need crushing or slicing; oranges and bananas should be cut just before serving.
- YieldRoughly eight individual shortcakes from a 2 1/2-inch cutter; the recipe gives no yield or pan size for the sheet version. "Cream" here most likely means unwhipped cream poured over.