Cheddar & herb American-style biscuits

Preheat the oven to 220°C, gas mark 7 and line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Pick, then chop the dill or oregano leaves and chop the chives. Put the flour, herbs, salt, mustard powder, cayenne and most of the cheese into a large mixing bowl and stir with a knife to combine. Carefully grate in the butter, flicking the flour over it as you go, then, stir briefly again to evenly distribute the butter through the flour mixture.

Mix the milk with 100ml cold water, pour in, then stir with the knife to combine, using your hands once it starts to clump together. Tip out onto a work surface and knead briefly to bring together into a ragged dough. Once roughly together, dust a little flour over the counter, then pat the dough gently to flatten the top.

Dust the top of the dough with flour, then roll into a rectangle about 3cm deep. Brush the excess flour away with a pastry brush, then fold into thirds like a letter, bringing the top third towards the centre and the bottom third over it. If the edges crack, simply turn the dough 90 degrees, roll again and repeat this process twice to incorporate layers into the dough.

Roll the dough out to 3cm depth again – it can be rectangular or square, then use a sharp knife to cut into 8 roughly equal-sized pieces. Brush off the excess flour, transfer to the baking tray and brush the tops with beaten egg. Scatter over the remaining cheese, then bake for 20 minutes, until risen, golden and crisp around the edges. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then split open with your fingers (don’t cut as it spoils the texture), and serve, well-buttered, with soup.