Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Baking-powder Biscuit
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the dough
In a bowl, mix the pastry flour, baking powder, and salt.
Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir in the milk, water, or mixture until just combined.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead gently.
Shape and bake
Roll out to about ½ inch thick and cut into rounds.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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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).
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
- Pastry flour
- Provides the main structure once its starches are hydrated and set by baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when moistened and heated, lifting the dough so the biscuits rise.
- Butter or other fat
- Cut into flour as pieces that melt in the oven, creating flaky layers and tenderness.
- Milk, water, or a mixture of the two
- Hydrates the flour to form the dough and adds moisture to the finished biscuits.
The step that matters
Stir in the liquid until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, making the biscuits tough rather than tender. Stop as soon as the dough holds together, and handle it gently.
“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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