Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Muffins
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.
Make the batter
Mix the flour, potato yeast, beaten eggs, salt, lukewarm milk, and melted butter.
Set the mixture to rise until very light.
Bake
Turn the batter into well-buttered muffin rings.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) 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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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Wheat + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together235 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Wheat flour
- Provides the structure that holds the muffins together as they bake.
- Potato yeast
- Ferments the batter so it rises and becomes light and airy.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness, helping the batter set as it bakes.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and hydrates the flour to form the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour, and helps the muffins brown.
The step that matters
Letting the batter rise until very light. The yeast needs enough time to produce gas that leavens the batter. Underproofed batter bakes dense, while overproofed batter can collapse and lose structure.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, flour, egg, milk, butter):
- Potatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, flour, egg, milk, butter. 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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