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.