Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Muffins
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix the soy flour, wheat flour, salt, and baking powder.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and add the sweet milk and melted butter.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.
Bake
Pour the batter into muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes or 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.
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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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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
- Soy flour
- Provides structure and a nutty flavor, though it lacks the gluten that wheat flour contributes.
- Wheat flour
- Supplies gluten to build structure and hold the muffin's crumb together.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set during baking to give the muffins structure.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, causing the muffins to rise in the oven.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a rich flavor in the crumb.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flours to form the batter.
The step that matters
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed. Stirring only until the flour is moistened keeps gluten development limited, so the muffins stay tender rather than tough. Overmixing also knocks out the gas that baking powder produces, reducing rise.
“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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