Name: Graham Biscuits, with Yeast
Ingredients: 1 pint water or milk; 1 large tablespoon butter; 2 tablespoons sugar; ½ cup yeast; a pinch of salt; wheat flour (enough to achieve batter-cake consistency); Graham flour (as much as can be stirred in)

Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Graham Biscuits, with Yeast

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

1 pint water or milk
1 large tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup yeast
a pinch of salt
wheat flour (enough to achieve batter-cake consistency)
Graham flour (as much as can be stirred in)

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

In a bowl, combine water or milk, butter, sugar, yeast, and salt.
Add enough wheat flour to achieve a batter-cake consistency.
Stir in as much Graham flour as possible with a spoon.
Cover and let the mixture sit overnight.

Shape and bake

The next morning, grease a baking pan and flour your hands.
Take a lump of dough the size of an egg and roll it lightly between your palms.
Let the biscuits rise for 20 minutes.
Bake in a moderately hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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 + wheattop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,418 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,002 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Butter and flour 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

Yeast: Ferments the dough so the biscuits rise and become light.
Wheat flour: Provides the structure and batter-cake consistency that holds the dough together.
Graham flour: Adds coarse bran and a nutty, hearty texture to the biscuits.
Butter: Adds fat for tenderness and rich flavor.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning.

The step that matters

Stir in the Graham flour gradually. Graham flour is heavy with bran that absorbs liquid and weighs down gluten development. Adding as much as the dough will take, without overworking it, keeps the biscuits from turning dense.

“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.

Wheat Muffins48 recipes

Whole Wheat Muffins12 recipes

White Cake431 recipes

Pound Cake373 recipes

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Graham Biscuits, with Yeast