Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Graham Muffins
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.
Prepare the batter
Combine Graham flour, all-purpose flour, milk, yeast, lard or butter, salt, and sugar in a bowl.
Mix well and cover the bowl.
Let the mixture rise overnight.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Spoon the batter into muffin rings.
Bake for about 20 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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Milk + buttertop 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).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Graham flour
- Provides the coarse, hearty texture and nutty flavour that set these muffins apart.
- All-purpose flour
- Supplies gluten for structure so the muffins hold their shape.
- Yeast
- Ferments the batter during the overnight rise, producing gas that leavens the muffins.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps the batter hydrate and brown in the oven.
- Lard or butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and a richer mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and contributes sweetness and browning.
The step that matters
Let the mixture rise overnight. The yeast needs time to ferment the batter fully. Under-rising leaves the muffins dense, while the gas produced by fermentation gives them their open, light crumb.
“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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