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 ↓
Quick Muffins
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a steady oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Mix milk, yeast, water, sugar, and salt into the flour as directed in a previous recipe.
Beat the mixture well and set it to rise overnight.
In the morning, work in the melted butter and dissolved soda.
Beat the mixture for one minute until light and fluffy.
Shape and bake
Half-fill greased patty pans with the batter.
Place the pans in a baking pan, cover with a cloth, and let them rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 12 to 15 minutes, covering with paper if they brown too quickly.
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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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Forms the structure that holds the muffins together as they rise and set.
- Yeast
- Produces gas during the overnight rise, leavening the batter and giving it a light texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness in the finished muffins.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to add extra lift and help the batter rise and brown.
The step that matters
Covering the muffins if they brown too quickly. Browning is fast at 400°F, so the tops can darken before the centres are cooked. Covering them with paper slows surface browning while the interior finishes baking.
“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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