Name: Waffles or Self-raising Flour
Ingredients: 2 pounds of self-raising flour; 2 quarts of milk; 4 whole eggs; 12 egg yolks; 8 ounces of melted butter; 1 basting spoonful of syrup; 1 teaspoon of salt; 2 teaspoons of baking powder

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 ↓

Waffles or Self-raising Flour

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, mix the flour and baking powder together.
Make a well in the center and gradually add the milk to avoid lumps.
In a separate bowl, beat the whole eggs and yolks thoroughly.
Add the beaten eggs, melted butter, syrup, and salt to the flour mixture.
Stir until just combined and cook in a waffle iron.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,540 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Self-raising flour: Forms the structure of the waffle as the batter sets.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, binding the batter as it cooks.
Milk: Hydrates the flour and loosens the batter to a pourable consistency.
Melted butter: Adds fat for tenderness and flavor, and helps browning in the iron.
Baking powder: Releases gas during cooking so the waffles rise and become light.

The step that matters

Stir until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, which makes waffles tough and chewy. Stir only until the dry ingredients are moistened, leaving a few small lumps.

“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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Waffles or Self-raising Flour