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 ↓
Ginger-beead
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.
Make the dough
In a large dish, combine molasses, melted butter, and baking soda mixed with sweet milk.
Dissolve alum in a small amount of water and add to the mixture.
Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff enough to roll out.
Mix the dough in the evening and let it rise in a warm place overnight.
In the morning, knead the dough thoroughly like bread.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough into squares about ½ inch thick.
Bake in bread pans in an oven preheated to 350°F (175°C).
For a glossy finish, brush the top with a mixture of beaten egg and sweet cream 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.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,116 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Molasses
- Provides sweetness, moisture, and dark browning, and reacts with baking soda.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas that lifts the dough.
- Alum
- An acidic salt that works with baking soda to produce gas for rising.
- Flour
- Builds the structure that holds the dough stiff enough to roll and bake.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and, in the glaze, helps the top brown and turn glossy.
The step that matters
Overnight rise in a warm place. The baking soda and alum need time in warmth to react and build gas throughout the dough. A rise that is too short or too cool leaves the bread dense and flat.
Swap the ginger
The recipe marks ginger as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, butter, milk, flour, egg, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Capersfits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, butter, milk, flour, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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