Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Plain 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.
Mix the dough
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Cut the shortening into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Add the liquid and mix until just combined.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into biscuits.
Place the biscuits on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 12-15 minutes.
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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the biscuit's shape as it bakes.
- Shortening
- Coats flour particles so the biscuits stay tender and flaky rather than tough.
- Baking powder
- Releases carbon dioxide gas in the oven, making the biscuits rise and become light.
- Liquid (milk or water)
- Hydrates the flour to form a cohesive dough and creates steam that aids rising.
The step that matters
Cutting in the shortening. Shortening should stay in small, separate pieces until baking. When it melts in the oven it leaves pockets that make layers, so overworking it into a smooth mixture yields dense, tough biscuits.
“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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