Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Good Scones
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Sift baking powder, flour, salt, and sugar together.
Rub in the margarine until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
Mix in the milk to form a soft dough.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut into shapes.
Bake and serve
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes or until golden.
Split open and spread with butter before serving.
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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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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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the dough as its proteins bind with the liquid.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven, helping the scones rise and become light.
- Margarine
- Rubbed into the flour to coat it, tenderising the crumb and adding richness.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form the dough and adds moisture and browning from its sugars.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Rub in the margarine until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Working the fat into the flour only until it looks like breadcrumbs coats the flour particles, which keeps gluten development limited and the scones tender. Overworking makes them tough.
“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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