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Dinner Rolls

A yeast bread roll made with cream, butter, sugar, and flour, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Dinner Rolls

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. In a saucepan, heat 1 quart of rich, sweet cream with 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt until it scalds.

  2. Remove from heat and let it cool to lukewarm.

  3. Dissolve 1 whole yeast cake in 1/2 cup of warm milk and add to the mixture.

  4. Gradually stir in 2 quarts of sifted wheat flour, mixing well.

  5. Beat the dough hard for 15 minutes.

  6. Cover tightly and keep warm for 4 hours or more.

  7. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 whole egg to the dough, then beat hard again for 15 minutes.

  8. Let the dough rise for 2 hours.

Shape and bake

  1. Grease roll tins and place the light dough on a floured surface.

  2. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick.

  3. Brush the dough with melted butter.

  4. Cut with a roll cutter.

  5. Fold double.

  6. Brush the top again with melted butter.

  7. Let the rolls rise slowly in a warm place for 2 hours or more.

  8. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 12 minutes and serve hot.

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.

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 + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Wheat flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the rolls their structure and chew.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Rich, sweet cream
Adds fat and moisture, producing a tender, soft crumb.
Egg
Adds richness and structure, helping the dough hold its shape and colour.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and flavour, and browns the crust when brushed on top.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning.

The step that matters

Beating the dough hard for 15 minutes. Vigorous beating develops the gluten that traps gas from the yeast, giving the rolls a light, even structure.

“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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