A biscuit is a small, soft, flaky bread roll, usually served warm with butter, jam, or gravy. Southern cooks are famous for making tender, buttery biscuits that practically melt in your mouth. The key to good biscuits is cold butter mixed into flour, which creates those delicious flaky layers when baked.

Biscuits differ from dinner rolls because they're not made with yeast. Instead, they use baking powder or baking soda to rise quickly, which means you can mix up a batch and have fresh biscuits on the table in about twenty minutes. They're perfect alongside fried chicken, served with sausage gravy for breakfast, or split open and topped with strawberries and whipped cream for shortcake.

If you visit Britain or Australia, you'll discover that biscuit means something completely different: a crisp, sweet cookie like shortbread. What Americans call cookies, the British call biscuits. So if a British friend offers you a chocolate biscuit with your tea, expect something crunchy and sweet, not a fluffy bread roll.