Name: Bread-biscuits, Rolls, Muffins, Etc.
Ingredients: 2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; 1 cup milk or cream; 2 tablespoons butter; 2 eggs; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Bread-biscuits, Rolls, Muffins, Etc.

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.

Prepare

Combine flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar in a bowl.
Melt the butter and beat the eggs in a separate bowl.

Make the dough

Add the milk or cream, melted butter, and beaten eggs to the dry ingredients.
Mix until just combined; do not overmix.
Knead the dough lightly and shape it into biscuits or rolls.

Bake

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and bake immediately for best results.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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 holds the dough together as it bakes.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to release gas, helping the dough rise.
Cream of tartar: Supplies acid that reacts with the baking soda to lift the dough and add tenderness.
Milk or cream: Adds moisture and fat, giving the dough a softer, richer texture.
Butter: Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes to browning and flavor.
Eggs: Add structure and richness, binding the dough and aiding its set in the oven.

The step that matters

Mix until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten in the flour, making the biscuits or rolls tough and dense. Stopping once the ingredients come together keeps the texture tender and light.

“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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Bread-biscuits, Rolls, Muffins, Etc.