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-bread
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 very large dish, combine molasses, melted butter, and baking soda mixed with sweet milk.
Dissolve alum in just enough water to cover it and add to the mixture.
Gradually add flour until the dough is stiff enough to roll out.
Mix the ingredients in the evening and set in a warm place to rise overnight.
Shape and bake
In the morning, knead the dough thoroughly, then roll it into squares about ½ inch thick.
Place the squares in bread pans and bake in an oven preheated to 350°F (175°C).
For a glossy finish, rub the top with a mixture of the beaten egg and sweet cream just 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.
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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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 or strained honey
- Adds sweetness, moisture and deep browning, and its acidity reacts with the baking soda.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavour.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas that lifts the dough.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds structure; in the glaze it gives a glossy finish.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and helps the dough hydrate evenly with the flour.
The step that matters
Overnight rise in a warm place. Baking soda reacts with the acidic molasses to release carbon dioxide, which lifts the dough during the rest. A place that is too cold slows this reaction, so the dough may stay dense, while the dough needs to be stiff enough to hold the gas.
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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