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 ↓
Sally Lunn
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°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.
Make the dough
Cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl.
Add the beaten eggs and mix well.
Stir in the milk and dissolved yeast.
Gradually add the flour and salt, mixing until smooth.
Cover the bowl and let the dough rise overnight or all day.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Pour the batter into a greased Turk's head mold.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes or 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.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness to the crumb as they set when baked.
- Yeast
- Produces gas during the long rise, lightening the dough and giving it an airy texture.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the cake its structure and chew.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and richness in the crumb.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning in the crust.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise. The yeast needs a long, warm rise to produce enough gas for a light texture. Too short a rise leaves the cake dense, while over-proofing can cause it to collapse or turn sour.
“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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