Why it works: Cream and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓
Baking- Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Mix
Sift baking soda, cream of tartar, and powdered alum together at least four times.
Add flour and mix thoroughly by sifting four more times.
Store
Store the mixture in a dry, airtight container.
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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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Baking soda
- Supplies carbon dioxide gas when it reacts with acid, lifting the baked goods.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as the acid that reacts with baking soda to release gas for rising.
- Powdered alum
- Serves as a second acid that reacts later, helping the leavening act over time.
- All-purpose flour
- Bulks out the powder and keeps the acids and base separated and dry until use.
The step that matters
Sifting the powder together thoroughly. Baking soda, acids and flour must be evenly distributed; uneven mixing causes pockets of soda that leave soapy taste or patchy rising, and moisture must be kept out so the acids and base do not react early.
“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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