Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Yorkshire Tea Cakes
10 portionsIngredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Combine the flour in a basin.
Melt the butter in the hot water.
Break the egg and beat it in another basin.
Dissolve the yeast with the sugar in ½ cup of the milk.
Add the melted butter, hot water, and beaten egg to the yeast mixture.
Make a well in the flour.
Pour the yeast mixture into the well.
Stir in some flour until the dough reaches a creamy consistency.
Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough.
Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.
Knead the dough lightly, using the remaining milk.
Shape and rise
Cut the dough with a knife.
Cover the cut dough and let it rise for another hour or until the surface cracks.
Turn the dough onto a floured board.
Divide the dough into 10 portions.
Shape each portion into a cake.
Place the cakes on a floured baking sheet.
Prick each cake with a fork.
Let the cakes rise for 10 minutes.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
Cut the cakes open.
Butter the cut cakes.
Serve very hot.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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 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
- Provides the structure that the rising dough traps gas within.
- German yeast
- Produces gas as it ferments, making the cakes rise and become light.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness, softening the crumb and adding fat flavour.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, helping bind the dough and enrich its crumb.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and hydrates the flour, forming a soft, workable dough.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast so it ferments actively, and adds a touch of sweetness.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise fully before shaping. Yeast needs time and warmth to produce enough gas for a light crumb. Rising too briefly leaves dense cakes, while the surface cracking shows the dough is ready to bake.
“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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