Biscuits

• A traditional American quick bread often served with butter and jam, jelly or honey, biscuits are golden and flaky on the outside and white and tender on the inside. Making biscuits involves working a solid fat such as cold butter or shortening into a mixture of flour, baking powder and salt until the coarse mixture is the size of rice kernels. The addition of liquid such as milk and sometimes eggs creates a sticky dough ready to be rolled out and cut into circles. During baking, the fat melts evenly into the biscuits.

Muffins

• The secret to making flavorful muffins is to mix the batter only until the dry ingredients blend lightly into the wet ingredients. If you attempt to make a smooth, lump-free batter, the muffins are likely to be coarse and tough. Make muffins from basic ingredients such as flour, baking powder, salt, egg, oil or melted shortening, milk and sugar. While plain muffins are flavorful, you can alter the recipe by adding ingredients such as blueberries, dates, nuts, cinnamon, raisins, bananas, cranberries, chocolate chips or poppy seeds.

Flat Breads

• Flat bread is a simple bread usually made from wheat flour mixed with oil or shortening, then seasoned with salt. Although some types of flat breads call for yeast, others are yeast free. Unleavened flat breads include chapati, a traditional Indian bread; lavash, a staple in Turkey and Iran; matzoh, a bread eaten at Passover, that may be almost cracker like; and a flour tortilla, a traditional Mexican flat bread. As with flour tortillas, flat breads are often made to hold other ingredients.

Crackers

• Traditionally in the United States, crackers are eaten as snacks, either as is or embellished with toppings such as sausage, lunch meat, cheese, jams and jellies or spreads. Crackers are made with white, rice, rye or whole wheat flour, along with oil or butter and in some cases, liquid such as milk or water. Additional ingredients give each type of cracker a distinctive flavor. For example, crackers may contain honey, peanut butter, sesame seeds, salt, pepper, garlic, jalapeno or onion. To make crackers, roll the dough, then cut it into shapes and bake. The thinner the dough, the crispier the cracker.