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Dessert

Soda Scones

Soda scones are made from flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and buttermilk, then baked on a hot griddle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Soda Scones

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Mix flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together.

  2. Add buttermilk gradually to form a wet dough.

  3. Flour a board well and knead in more flour lightly until the dough is manageable.

  4. Shape the scones gently; do not over-knead.

Cook

  1. Bake on a hot griddle, turning once.

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.

  1. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Cream + buttermilktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together674 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the scones together as the dough sets.
Cream of tartar
Acidic component that reacts with baking soda to produce gas for lift.
Baking soda
Alkaline leavening that releases carbon dioxide when combined with the acid for rising.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that help form the dough and activate the leavening.

The step that matters

Shape the scones gently; do not over-knead.. Kneading develops gluten, which toughens the dough and makes the scones dense. Light handling keeps them tender and lets the leavening lift them.

“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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