Original White House Cookbook

One pint of milk, boiled and cooled, a piece of butter the size of an egg, one-half cupful of fresh yeast, one tablespoonful of sugar, one pinch of salt, and two quarts of sifted flour. Melt the butter in the warm milk, then add the sugar, salt and flour, and let it rise over night. Mix rather soft. In the morning, add to this half of a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a spoonful of water. Mix in enough flour to make the same stiffness as any biscuit dough ; roll out not more than a quarter of an inch thick. Cut with a large round cutter ; spread soft butter over the tops and fold one-half over the other by doubling it. Place them apart a little so that there will he room to rise. Cover and place them near the fire for fifteen or twenty minutes before baking. Bake in rather a quick oven. PARKER HOUSE ROLLS. (Unfermented.) These rolls are made with baking powder, and are much sooner made, although the preceding recipe is the old original one from the “Parker House.” Stir into a quart of sifted flour three large teaspoonfuls of baking powder, a tablespoonful of cold butter, a teaspoonful of salt and one of sugar, and a well-beaten egg ; rub all well into the flour, pour in a pint of cold milk, mix up quickly into a smooth dough, roll it out less than half an inch thick, cut with a large biscuit-cutter, spread soft butter over the top of each; fold one-half over the other by doubling it, lay them a little apart on greased tins. Set them immediately in a pretty hot oven. Rub over the tops with sweet milk before putting in the oven, to give them a glaze. FRENCH ROLLS. Three cups of sweet milk, one cup of butter and lard, mixed in equal proportions, one-half cup of good yeast, or half a cake of compressed yeast, and a teaspoonful of salt. Add flour enough to make a stiff dough. Let it rise over night ; in the morning, add two well-beaten eggs ; knead thoroughly and let it rise again. With the hands, make it into balls as large as an egg ; then roll between the hands to make long rolls (about three inches). Place close together in even rows on well-buttered pans. Cover and let them rise again, then bake in a quick oven to a delicate brown. BEATEN BISCUIT. Two QUARTS of sifted flour, a teaspoonful of salt, a tablespoonful of sweet lard, one egg ; make up with half a pint of milk, or if milk is not to be had, plain water will answer ; beat well until the dough blisters and cracks ; pull off a two-inch square of the dough ; roll it into a ball with the hand ; flatten, stick with a fork, and bake in a quick oven. It is not beating hard that makes the biscuit nice, but the regularity of the motion. Beating hard, the old cooks say. Mils the dough. An old-Jashioned Southern Recipe POTATO BISCUIT. Boil six good-sized potatoes with their jackets on ; take them out with a skimmer, drain and squeeze with a towel to ensure being dry ; then remove the skin, mash them perfectly free from lumps, add a tablespoonful of butter, one egg and a pint of sweet milk. When cool, beat in half a cup of yeast. Put in just enough flour to make a stiff dough. When this rises, make into small cakes. Let them rise the same as biscuit and bake a delicate brown. This dough is very fine dropped into meat soups for pot-pie. VINEGAR BISCUITS.