"Beaten biscuit"

Southerners describe beaten biscuits as a cross between a soda cracker and a baking powder biscuit. To achieve the right texture and lightness, the dough had to be beaten hard (usually with a mallet) for at least half an hours. The purpose of the beating was to incorporate air into the mixture (this was a time in history before the invention of baking powder). They were a very heavy biscuit, not like our present day baking powder biscuits.
History: Beaten biscuits originated in Virginia and traveled across the mountains to Kentucky and then south to Maryland. Chuck wagon cooks also made them, recruiting a gullible new cowhand for help. They were considered the pride of the South, and in earlier days no Southern hostess would fail to offer these at any and all times of the day They are one of the delicious hot breads that have made Southern cooks famous They were basically considered an upper-class status symbol dish that depended on a lot of labor. Making the beaten biscuits was the daily duty of the plantation cook.

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