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Parker House Rolls

A yeast dough roll made with flour, butter, milk, sugar, and yeast, risen and baked in a quick oven.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 13 ingredients
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Parker House Rolls

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 sponge

  1. Put the salt into the flour, and work in the shortening thoroughly.

  2. Dissolve the yeast in one cupful of warm water.

  3. Scald the milk, and dissolve the sugar in it after it is taken off the fire.

  4. When the milk is lukewarm, mix the yeast with it.

  5. Make a hollow in the center of the flour, and pour into it the milk and yeast mixture.

  6. Sprinkle a little of the flour over the top.

  7. Cover the pan well, and leave it to rise.

  8. If this sponge is set at five o'clock, at ten o'clock stir the whole together thoroughly with a spoon.

  9. Do not beat it, but stir it well, as it gets no other kneading.

Shape the rolls

  1. In the morning turn the dough onto a board, work it together a little, and roll it evenly one half inch thick.

  2. Lift the dough off the board a little to let it shrink all it will before cutting.

  3. Cut it into rounds with a good-sized biscuit-cutter.

  4. Place a small piece of butter on one side, and double the other side over it, so the edges meet.

Rise and bake

  1. Let them rise for two hours, and bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes.

Timing notes

  1. If the rolls are to be used for luncheon, cut down the dough in the morning and keep it in a cool place until the time for molding them.

  2. If for tea, set the sponge in the morning, using one half cake of compressed yeast.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

755Calories
21 gProtein
21 gFat
120 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
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 Mary Ronald. 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.

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. Butter + milktop 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. Flour + milktop 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. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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
Provides the structure that the dough's gluten network builds to hold the rise.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide gas as it ferments, which leavens the dough and lightens the rolls.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, softening the crumb and aiding browning.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and some browning in the crust.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a rich flavor.

The step that matters

Stir the sponge, do not beat it. The sponge gets no other kneading, so it must be stirred just enough to combine. Beating too hard would overwork the gluten and make the rolls tough and dense.

“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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