Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Bread-biscuits, Rolls, Muffins, Etc.
Ingredients
Directions
Use water instead of milk for raised dough.
Ensure the dough is thoroughly light before shaping into loaves or biscuits.
Use as little flour as possible when molding.
Knead the dough well for a long time to create fine pores.
Avoid making the dough too stiff.
If using baking powder, substitute with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar if needed.
For sour milk, use 1 teaspoon of baking soda per quart and do not use baking powder or cream of tartar.
Prepare the oven first and handle the dough quickly to ensure success.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
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