Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Graham Biscuits
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the dough
In a large bowl, combine the Graham flour, wheat flour, sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.
Add the butter and mix until crumbly.
Beat the egg and add it to the mixture.
Gradually add milk until a dough forms.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough and cut into desired shapes.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden.
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.
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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Graham flour
- Provides the coarse, wholesome bulk and nutty flavour that defines the biscuit.
- Wheat flour
- Adds gluten-forming protein for structure, helping the dough hold its shape when cut.
- Butter
- Adds fat that keeps the biscuits tender and rich while it is worked into the flour.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds richness and structure to the baked biscuit.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidic ingredient that reacts with baking soda to produce lift and a lighter crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to release gas, making the biscuits rise.
The step that matters
Gradually add milk until a dough forms. Adding milk slowly lets you stop once the dough just comes together. Too much liquid makes the dough sticky and tough, and the biscuits spread instead of holding their cut shapes.
“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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