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Dessert

The Bakers Guide

A sweet yeast bread with currants, sultanas, and spices, traditionally eaten on Good Friday.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Blandy, John · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 24 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The Bakers Guide

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Make the milk and water warm to 90 °F.

  2. Dissolve the sugar, yeast, eggs, and flour into the warm milk and water.

  3. Mix together and set to ferment in a warm place (not hot) for about 2 hours.

  4. When the mixture settles it is ready.

Shape and prove

  1. Rub the butter with the remaining flour and make into a light dough, adding the currants, peel, sultanas, and the remaining sugar.

  2. Put the dough to prove, covered from the air, for another hour.

  3. Break the dough into pieces 2–3 oz. each, mould each round, and place upon tins an inch apart.

  4. Let the pieces rise in a moist, warm place until light enough for baking, about half an hour.

Bake and glaze

  1. Bake in a warm oven.

  2. When baked, wash the buns over with sweetened milk and an egg to give them a glossy appearance.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

227Calories
14 gProtein
13 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
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 Blandy, John. 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.

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 + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour (in the method)
Forms the dough structure that traps gas so the buns can rise.
Yeast (in the method)
Ferments the sugars to produce gas, leavening the dough.
Eggs
Add richness and structure, and the yolk-and-milk wash gives a glossy browned crust.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the dough and enriches its flavour and browning.
Sugar (in the method)
Feeds the yeast during fermenting and adds sweetness and browning.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a light, rich texture.

The step that matters

Letting the sponge ferment in a warm, not hot, place. Yeast is most active in gentle warmth; heat much above that kills it, so the dough will fail to rise. Gentle warmth lets gas build slowly and evenly for a light crumb.

“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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