LogFAQs > #941994346

lihlih posted...

What's the difference between english muffins and biscuits?

English muffins are yeast based, biscuits/scones are chemically leavened. You get different mixing as well (pretty typical bread dough method vs. cutting/rubbing in fat) and different ingredient proportions (biscuits/scones are higher in fat). English muffins are also generally cooked with a griddle/skillet.

wwinterj25 posted...

I've never had American biscuits. Having googled it they seem more like scones but without the fruit.

Biscuits and scones are very similar, but as far as North American recipes for them go, scones tend to be sweeter and have a greater variety of extra contents (e.g. fruit). In my experience, scones also tend to be larger, comprising an entire snack on their own instead of being a side dish for something else, but that's something that can easily be changed if you want a bigger biscuit/smaller scone. There's room to say that scones tend more toward being desserts, while biscuits are more savory, but there are plenty of recipes out there for savory scones (cheddar & chive, for example) that buck that trend.

SunWuKung420 posted...

The differences in those formulations is a huge divide. Baking is more chemistry than cooking. Minor differences in fat content or salt can make the difference between edible and not edible.

It's rarely that dramatic. The whole "baking is chemistry" thing means minor changes do make a difference, and that difference is often quite predictable if you understand the underlying bake theory, but you generally aren't going to have to worry about making something inedible by adding 10% too much butter. You're just going to get more spread (and therefore a crisper product) or a softer texture (if it's not something that can spread).

More saliently, given that he didn't list specific quantities (so there's no reason to bring up differing ratios), those two basic formulas aren't actually that different. You've got different leavening agents (which can affect the rise, flavour, and preparation method), a different choice of fat (mostly just affects flavour, though water content may need to be adjusted to compensate because butter's ~15% water and shortening has none), and some different flavourings (namely the sugar and lemon), but the overall formulation is pretty similar (that is, they're both quick breads with rubbed in fat). The only really significant difference there is the egg, which will change the overall texture pretty noticeably (and actually isn't something I'm used to seeing in scone recipes, so I'm a bit puzzled by it), but even that can be mostly negated by tweaking other ingredients.

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