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Corn Meal Rolls

A yeast-raised roll made with cornmeal, wheat flour, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Corn Meal Rolls

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. Pour the hot milk over the corn meal, salt, and sugar.

  2. When cool, add the yeast dissolved in ⅓ cup lukewarm water.

  3. Beat in the cup of flour, cover, and let rise overnight.

Knead and shape

  1. In the morning, mix in enough white flour to knead and the shortening.

  2. Knead thoroughly and let rise until doubled in size.

  3. Shape into rolls similar to Parker House rolls and let rise in the pans until light.

Bake

  1. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

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. Corn + wheattop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together465 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  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

Corn meal
Gives the rolls a grainy texture and a mild corn flavor.
Wheat flour
Provides gluten structure so the dough can rise and hold its shape.
Yeast cake
Produces carbon dioxide during fermentation, which makes the rolls rise.
Scalded milk
Adds moisture and softness, and its proteins help tenderize the crumb.
Butter or shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.

The step that matters

Knead thoroughly and let rise until doubled. Kneading develops gluten so the dough traps gas. Letting it fully double ensures enough yeast activity for a light, airy roll.

“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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