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Most restaurants in the US bring either biscuits or rolls to the table with your meal.

What is the difference between the two?

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I think you might need to clarify about regions? It's definitely not true that most restaurants across the entire US do this. Maybe you're talking about the south, where biscuits are pretty common? – Jefromi♦ Aug 16 '12 at 1:33
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I'm not sure I understand your question, could you please clarify which meanings of roll and bisquit you are using? The two I an thinking of are completely different things, it is like asking what is the difference between apples and parmesan. – rumtscho♦ Aug 16 '12 at 1:33
Additionally, if you're basing this on having eaten in enough restaurants to say most of them served biscuits or rolls, could you not tell the difference? Are you asking about how they're made? What are you asking that en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_roll don't answer? – Jefromi♦ Aug 16 '12 at 1:34
I think there's a certain European perspective that might provide clarity here - does the questioner actually want to refer to "bread sticks" versus "crackers"? – klypos Aug 16 '12 at 2:07
Biscuit = English scone? – TFD Aug 16 '12 at 8:15
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1 Answer

up vote 8 down vote accepted

In the U.S. biscuits are made with chemical leavening, they use baking powder to cause them to rise.

Rolls (or dinner rolls) are yeast bread.

There are obviously other differences in the recipe(s) but baking powder vs. yeast is the essential difference.

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the baking powder vs yeast must be the ticket - thanks – warren Aug 16 '12 at 14:38
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Depending on what kinds of biscuits the OP has been having, they may also have a lot more fat, which can have as much an effect on flavor and texture as the leavening. – Jefromi♦ Aug 16 '12 at 17:22
@Jefromi, true, The fat-flour ratio is also significantly different for biscuits. Good point. – Cos Callis Aug 16 '12 at 17:43
Biscuits, in my experience, tend to be more crumbly (i.e. cannot be successfully sliced), while bread it more... bready? – Adele C Aug 17 '12 at 2:20

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