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Bread

Light Rolls

A soft roll made from flour, sugar, salt, scalded milk, yeast, butter, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Light 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 ↓

Light Rolls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Add the sugar and salt to the scalded milk.

  2. When lukewarm, add the yeast dissolved in lukewarm water and three-fourths of a cup of flour.

  3. Cover and set in a warm place to rise.

Make and shape the dough

  1. Add the melted butter, the well-beaten egg, and enough flour to knead.

  2. Let rise in a warm place.

  3. Roll dough to one-half an inch in thickness.

  4. Shape dough with a biscuit cutter.

  5. Butter the top of each roll.

  6. Fold over each roll.

  7. Close rolls together.

  8. Place rolls in a buttered pan.

Bake

  1. Let rise again for forty-five minutes.

  2. Bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
120 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 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
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 Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron. 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. 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. 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. 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 its structure and lets it hold rise.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments sugars, making the rolls rise and turn light.
Egg
Adds protein for structure and richness, helping the rolls hold their shape.
Melted butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a softer bite.
Scalded milk
Adds moisture and milk proteins that soften the crumb and aid browning.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and promotes browning on the crust.

The step that matters

Let the dough rise fully before shaping and baking. Yeast needs time in a warm place to build gas and gluten strength. Rolling or baking too early leaves dense rolls, while over-proofing the second rise can cause them to 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.

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