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 ↓
Tea Rings
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.
Make the dough
Combine yeast, warm sweet milk, sugar, butter, eggs, flour, and salt in a large bowl to make a warm dough.
Set the dough in a warm place to rise until it has a good start.
Turn the dough onto a floured surface and roll it to about 1 inch thick.
Laminate and chill
Place ½ lb. of butter in the center of the dough.
Fold the dough over the butter from both sides.
Fold the ends of the dough.
Roll out the dough.
Fold the dough again as before.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough to about ½ inch thick.
Cut into strips 2 inches wide and 24 inches long.
Roll up each strip tightly.
Place the ends together to form a ring.
Place the rings on baking pans.
Brush the rings with egg wash.
Sprinkle granulated sugar on top.
Let the rings rise until light.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Milk + buttertop 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
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and holds the layers.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Butter
- Creates separate layers when folded into the dough, adding richness and tenderness.
- Eggs
- Add richness and structure, and the egg wash gives the rings a glossy browned surface.
- Sweet milk
- Provides the liquid that hydrates the flour and gives the dough a soft crumb.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
The step that matters
Folding in the butter and chilling the dough. The butter must stay cold and separate from the dough so it forms distinct layers. If the dough warms or the butter softens, it blends in, and the rings lose their flaky texture.
“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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