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 Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Combine the rye flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Add the egg and enough sour milk to mix the ingredients into a stiff batter.
Bake
Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) 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.
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Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 flour
- Provides the dense, earthy structure and flavour that sets these muffins apart from wheat ones.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-forming strength so the stiff batter holds its shape while baking.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set the crumb as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lifts the muffins.
- Sour milk
- Supplies moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda and tenderises the crumb.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the batter and promotes browning on the outside of the muffins.
The step that matters
Mixing the stiff batter. Mixing just until combined keeps the batter from overdeveloping gluten, which would make the muffins tough. The baking soda reacts with the sour milk as soon as they meet, so the batter should go into the tins 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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