Why it works: Flour and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,611 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Self-raising Flour
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the tartaric acid and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
Combine the mixture with the well-dried flour.
If using, add a little ground rice to the flour mixture.
Store in an airtight container for future use.
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 + ricetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Cream + ricetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,399 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Well-dried flour
- Provides the main structure and bulk of the self-raising mix.
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Releases carbon dioxide gas when acid is present, helping baked goods rise.
- Tartaric acid or cream of tartar
- Acts with bicarbonate of soda to produce carbon dioxide, so the mix rises without separate acid.
The step that matters
Combine the mixture with the well-dried flour. The acid and bicarbonate must be spread evenly through the flour. Uneven distribution creates pockets of too much or too little raising agent, which gives patchy rising and uneven texture in baking.
“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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