Baking Powder Biscuits
4 teaspoons baking-powder, or
1 teaspoon soda and two teaspoons cream of tartar
1 pt. flour
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter or lard
3⁄4 to 1 cup milk or water
Mix and sift the dry ingredients, work in the fat with the fingers, or mash it in with a fork. Add the liquid, one-third at a time, mixing the dough in three separate portions in the bowl. Cut through these three masses until they are barely mixed, then roll the dough to about one-half inch thickness; cut it into biscuits, lay them on a greased pan, brush the tops with milk or melted butter, and bake them for fifteen or twenty minutes in an insulated oven with stones heated so as to turn the paper a rich, dark brown, as explained in the test on page 225.