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Bread

Bread Rolls

A yeast-leavened roll made with flour, yeast, milk, butter, egg, salt, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Bread Rolls

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 ↓

Bread Rolls

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water.

  2. Melt the butter in warm milk.

  3. Mix in the beaten egg, salt, and sugar.

  4. Pour the liquid into the flour.

  5. Beat well.

  6. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours in summer or 3 hours in winter.

  7. Knead the dough.

  8. Add flour if it sticks to your hands.

  9. Let the dough rise again.

  10. Knead once more.

Shape and bake

  1. Form small pieces into round or oval rolls.

  2. Place them closely together in a baking pan.

  3. Let the rolls rise again.

  4. Brush with a little milk.

  5. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

  6. If the bottom is very hot, raise the pan after 10 minutes and cover with paper if necessary.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the rolls their structure.
Yeast
Ferments the dough so it rises and becomes light and airy.
Egg
Adds richness and helps bind the dough for a tender crumb.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness, and its sugars help the crust brown.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and rich flavor.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and contributes to browning of the crust.

The step that matters

Judging the second rise and the bake. Letting the dough rise fully builds the gas bubbles that make the rolls light, while an overheated pan bottom can scorch the base before the centre is cooked through.

“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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