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Rusks, with Yeast

Sweet yeast-raised biscuits, shaped by hand, risen on buttered tins and baked in a quick oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Rusks, with Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In one large coffeecup of warm milk dissolve half a cake of compressed yeast, or three tablespoonfuls of home-made yeast.

  2. To this add three well-beaten eggs, a small cup of sugar and a teaspoonful of salt. Beat these together.

  3. Use flour enough to make a smooth, light dough.

  4. Let it stand until very light.

Shape and rise

  1. Knead it in the form of biscuits.

  2. Place them on buttered tins and let them rise until they are almost up to the edge of the tins.

  3. Pierce the top of each one.

Glaze and bake

  1. Glaze the top of each with sugar and milk, or the white of an egg, before baking.

  2. Bake in a quick oven.

  3. Some add dried currants, well-washed and dried in the oven.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

851Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
123 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cakenot 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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping bind the dough and set the crumb.
Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and enriches the flavour.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the glazed top brown in the oven.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the dough and glaze.

The step that matters

Let the shaped dough rise until almost up to the edge of the tins. The yeast needs time to produce gas and expand the dough, which gives a light texture. Rising too little leaves the rusks dense, while overproofing can cause them to collapse or lose structure in the oven.

“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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