Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Sour Cream Biscuits
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
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and prepare a well-floured baking pan.
Mix, shape and bake
Quickly mix in the buttermilk and sour cream.
Handle the dough quickly, shaping it into biscuits.
Bake immediately 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.
-
Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Buttermilk + creamtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together674 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Flour + creamtop 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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the risen biscuits together.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk and sour cream to produce gas that lifts the biscuits.
- Buttermilk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and its liquid hydrates the flour for a tender crumb.
- Sour cream
- Adds fat and moisture, which tenderize the crumb and add richness.
The step that matters
Handle the dough quickly, shaping it into biscuits.. Overworking dough develops gluten and makes biscuits tough. Baking soda starts reacting with the acidic buttermilk and sour cream as soon as they are wet, so biscuits should go into the oven right away to keep their rise.
“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.
You might also like
Delicate Cake246 recipes
Boiled Frosting69 recipes
Citron Cake68 recipes
Scotch Cake63 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.