Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Rye Puffs
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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix the batter
In a bowl, mix the rye meal, flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, sugar, and salt.
In another bowl, whisk the egg and milk together.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed.
Bake
Pour the batter into a gem pan or onto a griddle to cook.
Bake or cook 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.
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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Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Rye + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together918 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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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).
Flour and milk 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
What each ingredient does
- Rye meal
- Provides the main flavour and body, though it lacks gluten to build much structure.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-based structure so the puffs hold their shape.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- Milk
- Supplies the liquid that hydrates the flours and makes the batter pourable.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the cream of tartar to release gas, helping the puffs rise.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the batter so it reacts with baking soda to produce lift.
The step that matters
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just mixed. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour and toughens the batter, while the leavening gas from baking soda and cream of tartar starts working as soon as liquid is added, so the batter should go into the pan promptly.
“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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