Why it works: Flour and caraway match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,435 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Crisp, Rolled-out Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the flour with the baking soda and salt.
Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
In another bowl, mix 1 cup of sugar with the caraway seeds and add to the flour mixture.
Beat the egg yolks and whites separately, then combine them and add the remaining sugar, beating until light.
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, then gradually stir in the sour milk until combined.
If needed, use a chopping knife to mix until the dough is stiff.
Shape and bake
Dust a clean surface with flour and sugar, then roll out a portion of the dough to about ¼ inch thick.
Cut into rounds or strips and place on a baking sheet.
Bake until golden brown.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Flour + carawaytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,435 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure of the dough once combined with liquids.
- Unsalted butter
- Cut into the flour to add tenderness and a crumbly texture to the cookies.
- Eggs
- Add richness and structure, and the whipped whites help the dough become light.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to help the cookies rise and stay tender.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that leavens the dough.
- Caraway seeds
- Contribute the distinctive aroma and flavor that defines these cookies.
The step that matters
Beating the egg yolks and whites separately. Whipping the whites separately and folding them in adds air, which lightens the dough. Overmixing after the flour is added can toughen the cookies, so combine gently.
Swap the caraway
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Carawaythe original
- Jalapenofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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