Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Baking-powder
Ingredients
Directions
Sift all ingredients together several times.
Store in airtight boxes or wide-mouthed bottles, labeled.
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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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Cream + wheattop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together681 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Supplies the carbon dioxide gas that makes the baked goods rise when it reacts with an acid.
- Tartaric acid
- Acts as the acid that reacts with bicarbonate of soda to release carbon dioxide.
- Cream of tartar
- Provides additional acidity that reacts with bicarbonate of soda to release carbon dioxide.
- Wheat flour
- Absorbs moisture and keeps the dry components separated and evenly mixed.
The step that matters
Sift all ingredients together several times.. Thorough sifting spreads the acid and bicarbonate evenly through the flour. Uneven mixing leaves pockets that react unevenly, giving uneven rising and off-tasting spots in the baked goods.
“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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