Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt.
Mix the warm milk and water with the ale yeast.
Stir the mixture into the flour for 15 minutes, then cover the dough.
Let it rise for 1 hour.
Shape and cook
Divide the dough into walnut-sized pieces.
Roll the pieces into balls.
Cover the balls with a flannel while you work.
Place the balls on a heated plate.
Cook until the bottom changes color.
Flip the balls.
To prevent burning, adjust the heat by placing bricks in the center of the fire if needed.
Second rise
Mix 1 pound of flour with 1 egg, melted butter, milk, and yeast.
Let the mixture rise for 2-3 hours before baking.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the muffins their structure.
- Yeast
- Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, helping the dough hold together.
- Butter
- Adds fat that softens texture and adds richness.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps the dough stay soft and tender.
The step that matters
Controlling the heat when cooking the balls. The surface sugars and proteins brown quickly on a hot plate. If the heat is too high, the outside burns before the inside cooks through, so the heat must be adjusted and the balls flipped at the right moment.
“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 muffins recipes
You might also like
Cornbread345 recipes
Bread Pudding336 recipes
Milk Bread Rolls242 recipes
Potato Bread124 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.