Why it works: Cream and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓
Home Made Baking Powder
Ingredients
Directions
Sift the cream of tartar, baking soda, and flour very thoroughly.
To 1 quart of flour, use 2 teaspoons of the baking powder.
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.
-
Cream + flourtop 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
- Cream of tartar
- Acid that reacts with the baking soda to release carbon dioxide, lifting the batter.
- Baking soda
- Base that reacts with the acid to release carbon dioxide gas, providing the rise.
- Flour
- Dry carrier that keeps the acid and base separated so they do not react before baking.
The step that matters
Sift the cream of tartar, baking soda, and flour very thoroughly. The acid and base must be evenly distributed. Uneven mixing leaves pockets of baking soda or cream of tartar, which can cause bitter spots and an uneven rise in baked goods.
“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.
More baking powder recipes
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.