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Raised Doughnuts I

A yeast-based doughnut made with milk, sugar, egg, butter, and flour, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Raised Doughnuts I

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Mix the egg, sugar, and melted butter together.

  2. Allow the milk to cool, then stir it into the egg mixture.

  3. Add the yeast and enough flour to make a stiff sponge.

  4. Let the sponge rise until very light.

Shape and rise

  1. Mold the dough.

  2. Roll out the dough.

  3. Cut the rolled dough into squares.

  4. Place the squares on buttered plates.

  5. Let the squares rise until very light.

Fry

  1. Fry the doughnuts until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Yeast
Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light and airy.
Flour
Forms the gluten structure that traps gas and gives the doughnuts their body.
Egg
Adds structure and richness, helping the dough hold its shape and texture.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a richer crumb.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning during frying.
Milk
Provides moisture and liquid that hydrates the flour and dissolves the sugar.

The step that matters

Let the squares rise until very light. Under-proofed doughnuts stay dense and heavy, while over-proofed ones may collapse or absorb excess oil. The dough should be visibly puffed and airy before frying.

“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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