I wrote a little bit about my concept in my introductory post. So here it goes! First up? A cookbook from Virginia with quite a title, two titles as a matter of fact: The Williamsburg Art of Cookery Or Accomblish'd Gentlewoman's Companion: Being a Collection of upwards of Five Hundred of the most Ancient & Approv'd Recipes in Virgina Cookery.
May I one day be referred to as an Accomplish'd Gentlewoman.
I picked up this little number from a local used book store. It's a collection of recipes from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Beaten Biscuit recipes caught my eye right away. I've been wanting to beat biscuits for a long time! As a Southerner who was raised right, I am spending my adult years attempting to perfect a biscuit recipe. And yet, I've never tried my hand at a beaten dough.
This dough was tough to mix. In hindsight, it would have been wise to add a bit more "sweet milk" (a term used for just regular ole whole milk, it was used to more clearly distinguish it from buttermilk). I beat the dough until it was about 1/2 an inch flat. Then I folded over and got right back to beating. All in all, it was about 7-8 folds in twenty minutes. I will certainly make some adjustments for any future beaten biscuits. It must be noted that these biscuits were in fact, edible. Just extremely dense and crumbly (but not crumbly in a good way). If you enjoy biscuits in the style of hockey pucks, this is the recipe for you!
Here's the recipe, in it's entirety:
ONE Quart of Flour, one Teacup of Lard (if you prefer it use Lard and Butter mixed), one Teaspoon of Salt, one Cup of Sweet Milk. Make a stiff Dough, then beat it fifteen or twenty Minutes until it blisters. Roll and cut in small round Biscuits. Bake in a moderately hot Oven. (Read Family Recipe)