Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Baking-powder Biscuit
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Cut in the lard until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Gradually add sour milk until a soft dough forms.
Shape and bake
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead gently.
Roll out and cut into biscuits.
Place on a baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 main structure of the biscuit as its proteins set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas when heated, helping the biscuits rise and become light.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas, adding extra lift and browning.
- Lard
- Cut into the flour to create flaky layers and a tender texture.
- Sour milk
- Provides moisture to form the dough and its acidity activates the baking soda.
The step that matters
Cut in the lard until coarse crumbs form. Lard left in pieces of varying sizes melts in the oven and creates steam pockets, giving flaky layers. If it is worked too finely into the flour, the biscuits turn out dense and less flaky.
“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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