American fans of " The Great British Baking Show " ( originally " The Great British Bake Off " in the United Kingdom ) and readers of British baking cookbooks apace acquire that Americans and Brits have very different definitions of commonbaking terms . For example , if an American watch over a British biscuit recipe expect something pantry and flaky for an bollock - and - Sir Francis Bacon sandwich , she ’d be in for a disappointing breakfast .
To crystallise up the disarray , we asked some experts to replete those in the U.S. in on the biggest differences between British and American baking terms and ingredients , so they wo n’t cease up wandering the aisles of an American supermarket fruitlessly searching for blacktreacle(that ’s molasses in the U.S. ) or a sandwich tin can ( U.K. term for a layer patty pan ) .
A Biscuit (U.K.) is a Cookie (U.S.)
Well , sort of .
Tim Brown is department chair of the International Baking and Pastry Institute at Johnson & Wales University in Providence , Rhode Island . Born and raised in South Africa , Brown worked as a pastry dough chef in the U.K. before impress to the States . Brown tell his American culinary students think of cookies as these moist , stumpy goody stuffed with chocolate microprocessor chip and other rich delights .
British biscuits , on the other bridge player , are much plainer , thinner and dryer , he explains . Some are sandwich around a bed of cream like an Oreo , and others are jazzed up with a coating of deep brown . But none are anything close to moist and chewy .
" I do n’t think Americans can get their heads around how dry and brittle a cooky is , " says Brown , explain that biscuits , like Italian biscotti — both derive from the Latin for " twice - baked " — are mean to be dipped in tea or umber .
Then there are digestives , a subset of British cookie that ’s traditionally round , hard and plain , but can now be foundcovered in all sorts of charm smack .
" There is no American equivalent weight to a digestive , " saysLee Faber , an American - born author and cookery book editor in chief who has lived in the U.K. since 1981 . Faber has Americanize or Anglicized more than 200 cookbooks and says that when a British Proto-Indo European formula birdsong for pulverized digestives in the crust , she deputise graham crackers for the American interpretation . And no , there are no graham cracker bonbon in the U.K.
A Biscuit (U.S.) Is a Scone (U.K.)
A British cooky is not remotely similar to the fluffy and fillingAmerican biscuitsmade famous in Southern American cuisine . The closest British eq to those larder miracle is ascone , which ai n’t too bad either . Both adust kickshaw apply flour , juicy , liquidity and a leavening agent . The main differencesare that scones tend to have less butter ( because you ’ll summate butter to it when you eating it — or else , clotted cream or jam ) while American biscuits run to have more butter and scant layer . Biscuits are generally served as part of a main meal ( for instance , the dish crybaby and biscuits ) , while scones are serve at teatime and can be savory or sweet , reckon on what is added to them . TheAmerican sconeis normally a triangular - shaped cookie - like baked good , full of butter , very sweet and stretch with blueberries , coffee chips or other add - IN .
An English Muffin (U.S.) is a Muffin (U.K.)
Nineteenth - hundred baker Samuel Bath Thomas may have popularized his English muffin in the United States , but he did not fabricate them . Over in the U.K. , English muffinsare simply called muffinsand have been around for centuries . In fact , they ’re the new - bake goodies that root on the traditional British glasshouse rhyme " Do You have it off The Muffin Man ? " ( hint : he lives on Drury Lane ) .
In America , they relate muffins with those cakey , cupcake - shaped blueberry muffins or poppy seed gem . In the U.K. , those are sometimes called American muffins . Ask for an English muffin in the Liverpool , though , and you might get some rum expression .
Then there ’s the crumpet . A crumpet is both similar to what American call an English muffin and wholly unlike . At first glance , the two look alike , and both can be toasted and slathered with butter and jam . But Brown says that crumpet loot is more like a stocky flapjack slugger and the resulting baked good is more rubbery than an English gem , but in a full way .
Also , crumpets are traditionally cooked on a griddle on only one side , so their aura bubble show up on top , whereas muffins are cooked on both side and the air travel bubbles ( aka " nooks and crannies " ) are trapped in the eye .
Pudding (U.K.) is Not Pudding (U.S.)
Thanks to the ascendancy of Jell - atomic number 8 pudding in the United States , most Americans have a singular definition of pud , namely a custard - like instant kickshaw delight alone as a dessert .
Pudding in the U.K.is a circumstances more complicated . Technically , British pudding include an array of dishes , both odoriferous and mouth-watering , that are traditionally boiled or steamed . That list includes truly questionable delicacy like grim pudding ( blood sausage balloon ) , white pudding ( basically blood sausage balloon without the blood ) and , yes , haggis . Yorkshire pud , on the other script , is like an eggy popover .
On the sweet side , enounce Faber , the Good Book pudding is commonly used as stenography for afters , as in , " What would you like for pudding ? " even if the pud in question is n’t " pudding " at all .
Brown says that the closest thing in the U.K. to American - expressive style pudding is custard , which is n’t traditionally eaten by itself , but layer into dishes liketrifleor enjoyed with some wide-eyed poached yield .
