As lifted from Ladies, A Plate

Getting ready

1. Sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water and leave to soften. Heat together the butter, milk and salt until the butter melts, pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside until it is just lukewarm.

Making the dough

1. Add the yeast to the warm butter and milk with about ½ cup of the flour and mix together until smooth. Cover with a plate and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon, until a soft dough forms. Add a little more warm water if you need to.
3. Knead the dough until it is smooth, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for 15 minutes, or about an hour at room temperature.
4. Preheat the oven to 325º F / 160º C.
5. On a floured bench roll the dough into a rectangle about ½ in / 13mm thick.
6. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, and then the top third down on top of it. Rotate the dough so that the folded edge is on the right side. This is one 'turn'.
7. Press down all over the surface with the rolling pin, then roll out again and repeat. The 1905 recipe that I use suggests giving the dough 8 or 9 'turns', but I usually stop after 6 turns.
8. You will find that the dough resists rolling after a couple of turns, and keeps shrinking back, so cover it with a cloth and leave to relax for about 5 minutes before you continue to roll.
9. Once all the turns are done, rest the dough for another 5 minutes, then roll it out as thinly as you can - no thicker than ¼ in / 7 mm.
10. Cut into large circles about 3 in / 8 cm diameter and place them on wetted oven trays
11. Prick all over with a fork, or I use the blunt end of a bamboo skewer.
12. Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown and crisp, rotating the oven trays half way through.
13. I don't roll out the leftover scraps of dough but cut them into smallish, irregular pieces and bake them with the biscuits, They become almost pretzel-like.

Lizzie Collingham's Recipe from The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence as it apperd in William Sitwell's piece in The Telegraph on 7 October 2020

Method

1. Dissolve dried yeast in the milk to which you have added a dash of sugar.
2. Rub the butter into the flour. Add salt. Make a well in the middle and pour in the milky yeast mixture. Mix to a dough and knead lightly.
3. Then allow to rise for 90 minutes.
4. Knead again until the dough is smooth, before leaving to rest again for 30 minutes.
5. Roll out to a thickness of a pound coin and use a mug or teacup to cut into rounds. Place on a lightly greased baking tray and dock them all over (prick with a fork).
6. Allow to rest for a final 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190C (fan oven 180C) and bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden and crisp.