How would you say biscuit in spanish?
Hello,
I wanted to write a recipe about how to make biscuits in Spanish ... I am having a hard time translating a few words. Biscuit, baking powder, dough, the verb for knead, as in to knead the dough, and roll.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me 
12 Answers
I agree with Jonathan. Translating "biscuit" is like trying to translate "ceviche" or "sushi" into English. Since in our culture we don't (or didn't) have anything similar to these foods, we adopted the words into English.
"Galleta/galletita" is more like a cookie (sweet) or cracker (plain or salted), and doesn't give the idea you are looking for. (I assume you are referring to the American version of a biscuit, based on the other words you ask about, and not a British one, which is more like a tea cookie or cracker, which would fit the definition of galleta/galletita.)
I have shared biscuits with a number of Mexican and Central American friends, and asked them what they would call them. After they hem and haw, the usually just say "panes," and some have suggested "pancitos" or "panecillos," but they are quick to point out that no one in their country would get the idea of American biscuits from those words, since that style of "bread" is not known in their countries.
A few friends have suggested "bísquit," which is just an Anglicism/transliteration of the word, and would not be understood by people that hadn't been exposed to American "biscuits" or didn't know them by their English name.
"Roll," as in the bread, would be the same, pancito or panecillo. If you are referring to the verb to roll, as in "roll the dough," if you're talking about what you do with a rolling pin (rodillo) you would probably use "estirar" (estirar la masa) or possibly "apisonar." A native speaker could verify this (lo que se hace a la masa con un rodillo). If you are talking about rolling up the dough into balls, you would use what Jonathan said.
dough- masa
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/dough
to knead - amasar
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/amasar
amasar means more like "to make into dough," so to translate the idea you may use:
"mezclar con las manos" (to mix with your hands)
Baking Powder- Polvo de hornear, levadura en polvo.
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/baking powder
to roll (the dough into balls)- "hacer bolas [bolitas] con la maza"
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/ball
The problem with translating "biscuit" is that it's a cultural thing. What the British call a biscuit is different than what Americans call a buscuit. And there isn't necessarily a type of bread in Hispanic cultures that fits the description of a biscuit. If I were sitting at a table with an Hispanic family, and they had American biscuits on the table, I would ask for "el pan" (the bread). Galleta or galletita is more like a sweet thing in my mind.
So, you might just keep "biscuit" as "buscuit." In English, a taco is a taco (Mexican Spanish), and creme brulee is creme brulee (French), because they have no direct translation in English.
Spanishdict says this:
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/biscuit
- galleta (f) (sweet, salted) (británico) [<-British]
' that really takes the biscuit! (familiar) -> ¡esto es el colmo!
- tortita (f) bollo (m) (muffin) (Estados Unidos) [<-UnitedStates]
Perhaps you can call it an American or British Biscuit (depending on which you are making) ("Biscuit Americano/Británico"), and then have a description of it in Spanish.
http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/crumbly (perhaps)
perrahermosa dice:
A donde vivo en america central, la gente diga "bizcocho" para describir lo que yo conozco como biscuit. tambien, mis diccionarios- de velazquez y larousse de la lengua española - digan "biscuit" o "hard tack" para bizcocho. yo supongo que lo depende en donde está, ¿no?
Por falta de tiempo y por falta de las antiguas medias de corrección, no voy a tratar con tu español, pero mira, perrahermosa ... la palabra "biscuit" tiene distintos sentidos en los EEUU y en Gran Bretaña (y, me imagino, en otros lugares).
No sé de dónde vienes, pero el tipo de "biscuit" del cual preguntaba Tamara, no es un bizcocho, ni tampoco es un "hard tack", a pesar de lo que dicen esos diccionarios, que muchas veces nada más hacen aproximaciones para palabras que no tienen traducciones exactas, como conceptos culturales cual la comida. A lo mejor, equiparan los bizcochos con las galletas británicas (los "tea biscuits" o "tea cookies"). Lo que describe Tamara es un pan horneado con mantequilla, grueso, usualmente esponjoso, a veces como desconchado, como tipo hojaldre, pero salado y que se come con mantequilla.
A veces se come también con mermelada o miel, o a veces se parte en medio para envolver, por ejemplo, huevos o carne, formando un tipo de sándwich. Este es el "biscuit" americano, y si tienes acceso a estos restaurantes americanos, se vende en KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken), y como desayuno en McDonald's, Burger King, Hardee's, etc.
Si eres de Gran Bretaña, quizás tu "biscuit" sea parecido a algún tipo de bizcocho que comen donde vives. ¿No viste el artículo de Wikipedia que puse en mi otra respuesta? Estos no son "biscuits" del tipo del cual inquiría Tamara, el tipo americano. Ve el artículo wikipedia acerca de "biscuit", y en particular la sección "Biscuits in North American usage". Sí, más abajo habla de "Beaten biscuits" y dice que son parecidos al "hard tack", pero la foto no compara con la del "hard tack" en el artículo de la misma Wikipedia.
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Did you see the Wikipedia article "Bizcocho" in my last post? These are definitely not the kind of biscuits Tamara was asking about, the American style. I don't know where you are from, but British biscuits are different from American biscuits, but neither are very similar to any type of bizcocho that I have seen or read about, including in the Wikipedia article, in spite of what your dictionaries say.
Many times the dictionaries stretch to find a one-word to one-word equivalent for terms, but that doesn't work, especially with terms related to culture, like food, which have no equivalent in the other language. Also, they sometimes give only one country's version of a concept.
Be sure, though, that Tamara's biscuits are not bizcochos, and they are not hard tack.
¿Por qué no usas "bizcocho"'
Welcome to the forums, perrahermosa.
A bizcocho is very different from an American biscuit, principally in that it is made with sugar, is usually sweet, and sometimes contains fruit or a similar sweet garnishment. Bizcocho is a general term whose closest equivalent in English would be "pastry." See this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizcocho
That is the problem using dictionary definitions for translations. Words and expressions have cultural differences and connotations, even when they are not dealing with food.
Hello,
I wanted to write a recipe about how to make biscuits in Spanish ... I am having a hard time translating a few words. Biscuit, baking powder, dough, the verb for knead, as in to knead the dough, and roll.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me
Hi Tamara
Every word you require translated can be found in our dictionary. You can also double click on each word and it will take you straight to the translation.
¡Gracias, hhmdirocco, por la info! Y, le pido perdón. Hago un montón de errores cuando escribo, sino que todos estamos aquí para practicar y aprender, ¿no? Soy nueva aca y tengo que acostumbrarme a mi tecla y todo ...¡Con suerte, yo mejoraré! 
it depends how you use it. look it up in the dictionary on this site, and you will see specific examples.
i thought it was galleta or galletita for biscuit. but i don't not about the rest!
A donde vivo en america central, la gente diga "bizcocho" para describir lo que yo conozco como biscuit. tambien, mis diccionarios- de velazquez y larousse de la lengua española - digan "biscuit" o "hard tack" para bizcocho. yo supongo que lo depende en donde está, ¿no?
porque no usas "biscocho"
perdona mi pobre espanol, y mis computadoras teclas por no escriban esta carta perfecta, yo estoy intentando a prender espanol,gracias todos.buenos dias a todos.
Un biscuit es un biscuit si o no, En inglaterra las biscuit's son galletes como cookies, pero en las estados unidos los biscuit's son biscuit's como un tipo, de pan, son no es galletes. Si yo fue tu. yo me olvidaria la palabra galletas porque son biscuits.
