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Dessert

Butter-milk Scones

Soft, baked scones made with buttermilk, flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.

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 ↓

Butter-milk Scones

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the dough

  1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.

  2. Add the buttermilk and mix until a smooth, soft dough forms.

  3. On a floured surface, shape the dough into a round cake about ½ inch thick.

Cut and bake

  1. Cut the dough into scones and place them on a floured baking sheet.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven or on a hot, floured skillet.

  3. Cook until brown on one side, then turn and brown the other side.

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
Forms the main structure of the scones as its proteins and starches set during cooking.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acids in the dough to release carbon dioxide, which lifts the scones.
Cream of tartar
Provides acid that reacts with the baking soda, adding lift and a lighter crumb.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity, helping the dough come together soft and tender.

The step that matters

Add the buttermilk and mix until a smooth, soft dough forms. Mixing only until the dough comes together keeps gluten development limited. Overworking makes the flour's proteins form a tough network, so the scones bake up dense rather than tender.

“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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