Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Potato Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Dissolve 1 cake yeast in 1 cup milk.
In a bowl, mix 1 cup flour, 1 cup mashed boiled potato, 1 cup lard, 2 eggs (well beaten), 1 cup sugar, pinch salt, and 1 cup lukewarm water.
Add the milk and the dissolved yeast to the mixture.
Do not knead the dough.
Rise and shape
Set the dough to rise for 1 hour.
Add 6 cups flour to the dough to make a soft dough, and set to rise again.
Shape the dough into rolls and let rise once more.
Bake
Bake the rolls.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| 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.
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.
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 as it ferments, which lifts the dough so the rolls rise.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the rolls their structure.
- Mashed potato
- Adds moisture and a soft, tender crumb.
- Lard
- Adds fat, which tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness to the soft dough.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps hydrate the flour into a dough.
The step that matters
Do not knead the dough. Kneading develops gluten strongly, which can make the rolls tough and dense. Mixing gently keeps this soft, enriched dough tender.
“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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