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 ↓
Milk Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Scald one pint of milk and let it cool.
Melt one tablespoon butter in the hot milk, then add one tablespoon sugar, one teaspoon salt, one small cake yeast, and 6 or 7 cups of flour.
Measure the scalded milk and pour it into a mixing bowl; add the butter, sugar, and salt.
When the mixture is cool, stir in the flour gradually, adding it after five cups are in so it may not be too stiff.
Use just enough to knead the dough.
Knead until smooth and elastic.
Cover and let rise until light.
Shape and bake
Cut the dough, divide into parts, shape into loaves.
Let the loaves rise again in the pans.
Bake for forty or fifty minutes.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 bread its structure and chew.
- Yeast
- Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise and become light.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the dough and helps browning.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the loaf.
The step that matters
Adding the flour gradually. Flour absorbs liquid as it is added, so adding it all at once can make the dough too stiff to knead well and to rise evenly. Adding it in stages keeps the dough soft and workable.
“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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