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 ↓
Milk Biscuits
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Cut the butter into the milk and warm it slightly on the stove or near the fire.
Sift the flour into a pan and pour the milk and butter into it.
Beat the eggs and pour them in also.
Add the yeast. Mix all well together with a knife.
Flour your paste-board, put the lump of dough on it, and knead it very hard.
Shape and bake
Cut the dough into small pieces and knead them into round balls.
Stick the tops of them with a fork.
Lay the biscuits in buttered pans and set them to rise.
When they are quite light, put them in a moderate oven and bake them.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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).
-
Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and sets when baked.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavour in the finished biscuits.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the dough bind and colour during baking.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture that hydrates the flour and helps form the dough.
- Brewer's yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
The step that matters
Letting the biscuits rise until light. Yeast needs time to produce gas and expand the dough; baking before the pieces are properly risen gives dense biscuits, while the gas is what makes them light.
“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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