Skip to main content
Bread

Parker House Rolls

Yeast-raised rolls made with scalded milk, shaped with a glass or cup, risen again and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
Jump to recipe ↓
Parker House Rolls

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 ↓

Parker House Rolls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Scald 1 pint of milk, 1 heaping teaspoon butter and 1 heaping teaspoon lard.

  2. Let cool and add 2 cakes Fleischmann's yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon sugar.

  3. Add a little flour and 2 eggs.

  4. Add enough flour to knead.

  5. Let rise.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape with a glass or cup.

  2. Butter one side.

  3. Let rise again.

  4. Bake.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

948Calories
27 gProtein
39 gFat
120 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cakenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. 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. 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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 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. Milk + flourtop 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

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough structure and lets it hold its risen shape.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, which leavens the dough so the rolls rise and become light.
Eggs
Add richness and structure, helping the dough set and bake with a tender crumb.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, softening the crumb and aiding browning on the crust.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes flavor and softness.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness, which helps the crust brown.

The step that matters

Let rise. The dough must rise fully before baking, because yeast gas is what makes the rolls light. Under-proofed dough bakes dense, while over-proofed dough can 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.

You might also like