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Sandwich Biscuit
Prepare the dough as above, roll to about threeeighths an inch in thickness, and cut into rounds. Spread one half of these with softened butter, and press the others, unbuttered, upon them; bake fifteen or eighteen minutes.
A baking-powder biscuit cut into rounds and baked in buttered pairs, so the two halves separate cleanly for filling. The recipe assumes you have the dough formula from the preceding page.
- "The dough as above"The formula is on the preceding page and is not reproduced here; it is presumably a plain rolled biscuit dough. Any standard rolled biscuit recipe will behave the same way.
- Oven heatNo oven direction is given. In a modern oven, 425F suits a doubled round of 3/8-inch layers for the fifteen to eighteen minutes specified; single biscuits at that heat are done sooner.
- Why the butter goes betweenThe butter sits between the two rounds so the baked biscuit parts along a flat seam rather than tearing; it also butters the inside surfaces for the filling. The recipe specifies it softened, i.e. spreadable.
- ThicknessTwo rounds at three-eighths of an inch each give about three-quarters of an inch of dough before rising. Roll with a light hand and cut straight down without twisting the cutter, or the sealed edge will pull the layers crooked as they rise.
- Cutter sizeNo diameter is given, so choose to suit the filling; the yield will depend on the size of cutter and the quantity of dough made from the preceding recipe.
- Filling and servingSplit while just warm and fill with thin ham, tongue, chicken, or a cheese paste. They are best the day they are baked; reheat briefly at 300F to revive them.
These belong to the American tea-table sandwich, which by the end of the nineteenth century had drifted well away from the bread-and-meat original into small, decorative things served at receptions, card parties and church suppers. The book, generally attributed to Janet McKenzie Hill, treats the sandwich as a category of construction rather than a single dish, and a split biscuit had obvious advantages: quicker than yeast rolls, sturdier than sliced loaf bread, and small enough to hold in a gloved hand. The buttered-pair trick is a piece of practical bakery logic; the fat between the surfaces prevents the doughs from bonding, so the cook is spared cutting a hot biscuit with a knife and crumbling it.