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 ↓
Detkoit Eolls
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Put one pint warm milk in the middle of two quarts flour.
Beat up a thick batter, a little stiffer than pancakes.
Add one-half cake German compressed yeast.
When light, knead up like bread, kneading the dough out in a long roll and folding over like pie crust, doing this six or seven times.
When again light, add a piece of butter size of a large egg, pulling it through the dough.
Work in two eggs and one tablespoon sugar that has been beaten together very light.
Knead again same as before.
Shape and bake
Roll out on your bread board with rolling pin.
Cut with small round or oval cutters, dipping cutter occasionally in a cup of melted lard or drippings instead of flour.
Put in pans to rise.
When creamy light, bake; to expedite the rising, set the pans over hot water.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| 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).
-
Flour + buttertop 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).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the rolls their structure and chew.
- German compressed yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide gas, which makes the dough rise and turn light.
- Eggs
- Add richness and structure, helping the rolls hold their shape and color.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a richer flavor.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and proteins that add softness and browning to the crumb.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise until light before baking. Yeast needs time to produce gas and stretch the gluten. Baking before the dough is fully light gives dense rolls, while over-proofing can cause collapse.
“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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