The Evolution Of The Biscuit - From Potash To Baking Soda - 18th Century Cooking

Summary

In this episode of 18th Century Cooking, hosts John Townsend and Ryan explore the evolution of the American biscuit. They compare three biscuit recipes from different eras: the 1799 American potash cake using potassium carbonate for leavening, a late 19th-century recipe with baking powder, and a modern version. The hosts use White Lily flour for all recipes, showcasing its quality. The video offers insights into the history and changes in biscuit making, from a quick bread to the fluffy, flaky treats we know today.

Takeaways

• 🕰️ The video explores the origins of the American biscuit, tracing its development from the 18th century to modern times.
• 👩‍🍳 John Townsend and Ryan collaborate to present different biscuit recipes from various historical periods.
• 🍞 The 18th-century biscuit, also known as the American potash cake, uses potassium carbonate as a leavening agent.
• 🧈 Modern biscuit recipes emphasize keeping the butter cold and laminating the dough for flaky layers.
• 📜 The 1799 recipe by Marguerita Curley includes flour, butter, sugar, and potash, with the potash dissolved in water before mixing.
• 🥛 The 19th-century recipe, from the Farm and Home Cookbook, uses baking powder, flour, salt, cream, and milk.
• 🌿 The video highlights the evolution of biscuits, focusing on differences in leavening agents and preparation methods over time.
• ⚖️ Baking powder is noted for its double-acting properties, causing biscuits to rise when wet and again when heated.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Biscuits were originally intended as a quick bread-like item to serve unexpected guests, requiring minimal preparation time.
• 🥐 The comparison of biscuits from different eras shows a progression toward lighter, fluffier, and more flavorful modern biscuits.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the episode?

The main focus of the episode is to explore the origins of the American biscuit and compare different biscuit recipes from the 18th century to the modern day.

Who are the hosts of the episode?

The hosts of the episode are John Townsend and Ryan.

Why did the hosts decide to make biscuits in this episode?

The hosts decided to make biscuits in collaboration with White Lily Flour, which contacted them and sent their flour to test out in various biscuit recipes.

What makes 18th-century biscuits different from modern biscuits?

18th-century biscuits typically used yeast, sourdough, or eggs as leavening agents, while modern biscuits use baking powder or baking soda for leavening, resulting in a lighter and fluffier texture.

What are the three types of biscuit recipes featured in the episode?

The three types of biscuit recipes featured are a very early recipe from 1799, a late 19th-century recipe using baking powder, and a modern-day biscuit recipe.

What are some key differences in the preparation of modern biscuits compared to historical ones?

Modern biscuit recipes often stress keeping the butter cold and laminating the dough to create flaky layers, which is not seen in historical recipes.

What leavening agent was used in the 1799 biscuit recipe?

The 1799 biscuit recipe used potassium carbonate (pearl ash) as the leavening agent.

What are the ingredients in the 1799 biscuit recipe by Marguerita Curley?

The ingredients in the 1799 biscuit recipe are two pounds of flour, half a pound of butter, half a pound of sugar, a teaspoon of salt of tartar or another form of potash dissolved in water, and about a pint of milk.

How do the hosts describe the texture and taste of the 1799 biscuits?

The hosts describe the 1799 biscuits as fluffy inside, slightly sweet, and somewhat lacking in salt compared to modern biscuits.

What are the hosts' final thoughts on the evolution of the American biscuit?

The hosts find it fascinating to trace the 200-year evolution of the American biscuit from a simple, quick bread to the modern, fluffy version we have today, highlighting the distinct changes in ingredients and preparation methods over time.

Outlines

00:00

🍪 Introduction to American Biscuits and 18th Century Cooking

John Townsend introduces the topic of American biscuits with guest Ryan. They discuss their collaboration with White Lily Flour, aiming to explore the origins and evolution of biscuits from the 18th century to modern times, highlighting the unique leavening methods used historically.

05:02

🧁 18th Century Biscuit Recipe and Preparation

The script delves into the specifics of 18th-century biscuit recipes, including the leavening agent potassium carbonate. It contrasts this with modern ingredients like baking powder and explains how biscuits evolved over time. The differences in preparation methods, such as keeping butter cold and laminating dough for modern biscuits, are also highlighted.

10:07

📜 Historical Recipe by Marguerita Curley

John reads Marguerita Curley's 1799 recipe for American potash cake, emphasizing its historical context and unique ingredients like potash. The script contrasts this with a 19th-century recipe that uses baking powder, noting the simplicity and quick preparation process of historical biscuits.

🥖 Biscuit Preparation Techniques Across Centuries

Detailed instructions on preparing biscuits from different eras are provided. The importance of not overworking the dough and differences in preparation techniques, such as hand-pressing versus using a rolling pin, are explained. The evolution of biscuit recipes and their quick preparation are highlighted.

🍞 Comparing Biscuits from Different Eras

John and Ryan taste test biscuits from 1799, the late 19th century, and modern times. They discuss the textural and flavor differences, noting how each recipe reflects its historical context. The evolution from dense, lightly sweetened biscuits to fluffy, layered modern ones is explored.

🥐 Evolution of Biscuit Recipes and Final Thoughts

The hosts reflect on the 200-year evolution of biscuits, from simple quick breads to the modern, fluffy versions. They appreciate the historical journey and American roots of the biscuit. John thanks Ryan for his contribution and suggests another related episode on crumpets.

Keywords

💡American biscuit

An American biscuit is a type of quick bread that is light, fluffy, and typically served as a side dish. The video explores the evolution of the American biscuit from its 18th-century origins to the modern-day version, highlighting changes in ingredients and preparation methods.

💡Leavening agents

Leavening agents are substances used in dough and batter to cause a foaming action that lightens and softens the mixture. The video discusses different leavening agents used across centuries, such as yeast, sourdough, eggs, pearl ash, baking powder, and baking soda, and how they affect the texture of biscuits.

💡Pearl ash

Pearl ash, or potassium carbonate, is an early leavening agent used in the 18th century. The video explains its role in making potash cakes and its primitive leavening properties compared to modern baking powder, noting that it gives less lift and can impart a soapy flavor if used in excess.

💡Baking powder

Baking powder is a modern leavening agent composed of an acid and a base (sodium bicarbonate) that reacts when moistened and heated. The video contrasts biscuits made with baking powder from the late 19th century to those made with earlier leavening methods, emphasizing the improved rise and texture it provides.

💡18th-century cooking

18th-century cooking refers to the culinary practices and recipes of the 1700s. The video delves into historical cooking techniques, ingredients, and the types of leavening agents used, demonstrating how early American biscuits were made and their evolution over time.

💡White Lily flour

White Lily flour is a brand of flour known for its light texture and suitability for baking biscuits. The video features a collaboration with White Lily flour, using it to bake all the biscuits and praising its quality and performance in the recipes tested.

💡Potash cake

Potash cake is an early form of biscuit made using pearl ash as a leavening agent. The video references a 1799 recipe by Marguerita Curley, which uses potash to achieve a primitive rise, and compares it to more modern biscuits, highlighting the historical context and preparation differences.

💡Lamination

Lamination is a baking technique involving folding and rolling dough to create layers. The video notes that modern biscuit recipes often include laminating the dough to achieve flaky layers, a technique not seen in the 19th-century recipes discussed.

💡Marguerita Curley

Marguerita Curley is an 18th-century figure who provided a potash cake recipe to a British newspaper. The video features her recipe as an example of early American biscuits, explaining the ingredients and methods she described and comparing them to later biscuit recipes.

💡Quick bread

Quick bread refers to bread that is leavened without yeast, typically using baking powder or baking soda, allowing for faster preparation. The video discusses how biscuits are a type of quick bread, designed to be made quickly and easily, reflecting their historical role in providing a fast bread option for unexpected guests.

Highlights

Introduction to the origins of the American biscuit and the collaboration with White Lily Flour.

Discussion of the differences between 18th-century and modern biscuits, focusing on leavening agents.

Explanation of how modern biscuits use baking powder or baking soda, while 18th-century recipes used yeast or eggs.

Comparison of three biscuit recipes from different time periods: modern, late 19th century, and 1799.

Description of the 1799 recipe by Marguerita Curley, including the use of potassium carbonate as a leavening agent.

Highlight of the differences in texture and taste between the 1799 biscuit and modern biscuits.

Explanation of the modern technique of keeping butter cold and laminating dough for flakiness.

Observation that the 18th-century biscuit did not rise as much and lacked salt compared to modern biscuits.

Insight into how baking powder biscuits start to rise before baking, unlike 18th-century recipes.

Discussion of the evolution of the American biscuit and its roots in quick bread-making for unexpected guests.

Comparison of the interior structure and flavor of the 18th-century, 19th-century, and modern biscuits.

Mention of the simplicity of 19th-century recipes, often requiring only a few basic pantry ingredients.

Observation that modern biscuits are similar to store-bought canned biscuits in texture and layers.

Reflection on the 200-year evolution of the biscuit from a simple proto-biscuit to the fluffy modern version.

Closing appreciation of the historical journey and the American roots of the modern biscuit.

Transcripts

welcome to 18th century cooking i'm your

host john townsend and i'm joined today

by ryan and we are going to dig into the

origins of the american biscuit thanks

for joining us today as we savor the

flavors in the aromas of the 18th

century

our friends at white lily flower got a

hold of us and they wanted to do a

collaboration video we were really

excited about because they have a great

product but we didn't know the best way

to serve them and us we settled on a

biscuit but that gets really difficult

in the 18th century so i started to talk

to john and say how can we tie this in

so

there is no um biscuit like this the

epitome of you know a dinnertime biscuit

that i just love these things but they

are

not 18th century but there are the roots

to this wonderful biscuit that go down

into the 18th century and it's a very

very particular american story so i

thought it would make a great episode

where we can kind of make something like

this and the 18th century version so we

can compare the two maybe even three

right so there's a lot of different

kinds of biscuits as they go through

history but what's really going on what

makes this biscuit kind of

different is the leavening effect where

where did where does this light and

fluffy biscuit come from because

everything from the 18th century is

usually either yeast or it's a sour

lemon like you could think of sourdough

bread or possibly something that's

leavened with eggs whipped up so you've

got lots of air in there those are the

kinds of leavening

the airiness that you find in the 18th

century but not what we're used to which

is

in this case pearl ash or you might be

more familiar with

baking powder or baking soda

so we'll be working with three different

kinds of biscuit recipes we've got our

very very modern example here of today's

biscuit i've got the very very early

recipe that gets us

sort of on the road to biscuits this is

17.99 and what have you got yeah this is

a late 19th century recipe that uses

baking powder as a leavening agent

so

between these three

we'll kind of get that hit that timeline

of sort of proto-american biscuit right

and then biscuit as the 19th century

civil war and a little bit later and

then the classic you know today's

biscuit we'll be able to see what the

differences are like in how you make

them and what they taste like

i wanted to take just a moment to talk

about white lily flower so recently we

were contacted by the folks at white

lily flower they said they enjoyed what

we were doing on the channel and they

thought we might enjoy trying out some

of their flower communicating with the

folks at white lily flower has been

wonderful they sent us a batch to try

out and we thought let's put it to the

test all the biscuits that we're making

in this episode were made with white

lily flour and you know we use a lot of

flour on this channel and this has been

some of the best flowers we've ever used

i encourage you to try this flower for

more information on white lily flower

visit whitelily.com

this morning i got up to make some nice

modern biscuits and there are a couple

of things that they really stress in

modern recipes that you don't see in

period cookbooks one is that the butter

stays cold i put the butter in the

freezer for about 30 minutes and then i

grated that into the dry ingredients the

other is laminating the dough you'll see

that with other types of pastry in the

18th century but you don't see that with

biscuits and so if you want these nice

flaky layers you want cold butter and

you want to laminate the dough so that's

what i did for these modern ones it's a

little bit different than what we're

going to do in the 19th century recipe

you'll see baking powder which is like

modern biscuits but you're not going to

see the cold ingredients and you're not

going to see the lamination of the dough

so the real big difference is as we go

back into the 18th century we find a

recipe by marguerita curley and she

writes to a newspaper in great britain

and she's telling them about the

american potash cake and it's such a

great story it's a giant long letter and

she's she's explaining when you would

make these and why they do it and then

she gives us the recipe for it wonderful

wonderful recipe what are the big

differences here well the leavening

agent isn't baking powder but it's

actually

it's potassium carbonate

now that's a very different sort of

thing than

baking powder which has the component of

sodium bicarbonate so sodium bicarbonate

is a is a very active ingredient here it

gives a lot of lift this one is a

primitive version of that it's just

carbonate not bicarbonate so it kind of

gives you a half lift right so it's uh

and it's potassium which can if you use

too much of it give you a soapy flavor

so you don't want to overdo it trying to

get it fluffier and then you get soapy

biscuits but everything else is pretty

similar we're going to be using almost

the same amount of flour we're going to

use a little bit of milk here and this

one has butter in it i think his recipe

is going to be working with just cream

so there's some fats here this one also

is meant to be a little bit more

desserty so it has some sugar in it but

not a great quantity

so let me read to you marguerita curly's

recipe out of this big letter she says a

good recipe for this cake is as follows

take of a good wheaton flour two pounds

of butter a half a pound of sugar a half

a pound add to these a heaping

teaspoonful of salt of tartar or any

other form of potash or pearl ash that

will hiss when vinegar is poured on it

we're not supposed to use vinegar in

this recipe but it's just how you

identify it the potash must be dissolved

in a little water before it is added to

the other materials and the sugar is

stirred in about a pint of milk and

being freed from lumps the hole must be

mixed and kneaded well together

this may be done in a few minutes and

the dough will instantly be fit for

rolling out and baking

so my recipe is from the farm and home

cookbook

and it's baking powder biscuits number

two

to one quart a sifted flour add three

teaspoons baking powder a little salt

one cup rich sweet cream and milk enough

to make a dough of the proper

consistency

it's that simple

so

so in this time period i've seen

references to not using a rolling pin

but just using your hands and if you

haven't made biscuits before it's really

easy the key is to not overwork the

dough the first thing you're going to do

is you're going to mix your dry

ingredients in a bowl give it a quick

swirl so they're all incorporated

together you add your wet ingredients

mix those ingredients up into a dough

don't overwork it then you're going to

turn it out onto a floured surface press

it out about an inch thick and then cut

them into circles put them on a baking

sheet and then the oven they go

do

you

it's time to try out our three different

kinds of biscuits we've got the 1799

we've got the late 19th century let's

call them

1900 and then we have the modern day

biscuit which one you're going to try

first

let's go earlier to late okay earlier to

later so

let's see here you want to break it yeah

so here's our uh original

um margaretta curly uh pot ash cake and

obviously you can see by the size they

started out about the same thickness

these did not grow as much that's for

sure

but um they look like it worked yeah

it's fluffy in there they're not rock

hard like a

ship's biscuit

these have some sugar in them just a

little bit sweet not too much these are

really good

now this recipe did not have any salt in

it

and you can definitely tell that it

probably needed a little salt she

expected some of that if you use sodium

bicarbonate in here you can get some of

that sodium from it and you get a little

bit of you know salt flavor even if you

don't add salt in a soda biscuit this

one just has the potassium

it's even better butter

what is it exactly really good though

these baked um

the same amount of time both of the

biscuits we were working with yep um you

can tell though what's happening with

this one if you look real closely at

some of these biscuits

you'll see that they're starting to

crack open so

the the leavening only starts to act

when it's heated up so the biscuit

starts to bake on the outside it gets

hard and then it starts to expand and

you get cracking

right whereas these we could see them

starting to rise even before we we put

them in the oven you know they and then

they have they rise even more when

they're in the oven right so baking

powder is sort of double acting yeah as

soon as it gets wet the acid it starts

to react with the baking soda that's

built into that and they start rising

just as soon as they get wet but they

rise some more when they heat up they

look a ton different on the inside

yeah so definitely fluffier yeah

yeah right the outside isn't so hard

they're not getting those layers that we

talked about with the modern biscuit

kind of maybe a little bit but not so

much

it's like a breakfast biscuit i've got

it yeah this this one the the one from

from the 18th century had that sweetness

that felt like it could be a snack or a

dessert or something like that but this

is

as you when you taste this immediately i

think you're like where's the sausage

gravy this is a breakfast biscuit yeah

very very good

but you can see there's definitely a

evolution as we're working here lighter

and fluffier we've got a little bit more

salt a little more savory flavor in it

the final biscuit to test this this is

the well where would you where would you

find this

this i mean if you look up a mod if you

look up the biscuit recipe if you just

google one you'll find a biscuit exactly

like this this is just

this is what people want when they think

biscuits in 2021

and already it doesn't just like break

right now it kind of like bends and

tears

and we get these tons of layers

wonderful floating layers and flakiness

right

much more delicate

we have more natural sort of uh

buttery saltiness in here this does this

have butter in it yeah yes quite a bit

actually

yeah it's it's it's this is a lot like

if you

got a can of biscuits and you weren't

going to make them homemade and it's

like a can of you know whatever brand

biscuits popped it open bake them you're

going to get something like this i feel

like the

1900 one is more like

maybe what my grandmother would have

made and it doesn't have those layers

it's a little bit more dense

but it still has the salt but yeah it's

really good so the interesting take on

all these is that they're meant to be a

fast bread-like item you don't take

hours and hours to make these you just

whip them right up she even mentions

that in the 1799 recipe she says oh you

have guests come over and you didn't

expect them you don't have time for

hours to bake a loaf of bread you need

bread right away and that's why they

invented these they invented them to be

a quick bread like thing to give your

guests

yeah i wonder if that's why some of them

you'll see more ingredients than others

too like these these 1901 it's just like

cream salt flour that's it or a little

bit baking powder but yeah

everything you'll probably have on hand

because it's a pantry item and you want

that make it right away yeah

isn't it great to see this 200 year

evolution of a simple proto biscuit

that's not quite what we would expect to

be a biscuit at all as it changes into

the 19th century and then we get to our

wonderful fluffy modern biscuit i love

this whole tracing food back through

time to see exactly where it came from

and the amazing american roots

of our modern biscuit

ryan thank you so much for coming in and

doing all the prep work on this one it

was a blast doing all the research for

it and and connecting these up so thank

you for that and if you want to see

another episode where we you know sort

of a test test the waters on several

different things that are very similar

check out this crumpet controversy

episode it's a good one