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Parker House Rolls

Soft rolls made with flour, milk, lard, sugar, salt, butter, and baked at 400°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Parker House 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 ↓

Parker House Rolls

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the sponge

  1. In a large bowl, mix 1 quart of sifted flour, 1 quart of milk, and 1 large tablespoon of lard to form a soft sponge.

  2. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt, then let the sponge rise for 2 hours.

Knead and shape

  1. Incorporate 1 tablespoon of butter and about 1 quart of flour, then knead the dough for 15 minutes.

  2. Place the dough back in the pan and let it rise again for 2 hours.

  3. On a floured surface, roll out the dough and cut it with a small round cutter.

  4. Spread melted butter on each piece, fold them over, and place in tins for baking.

Bake

  1. Let the rolls rise for about 30 minutes before baking.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 to 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.

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. Sugar + buttertop 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
Forms the gluten network that gives the rolls their structure and chew.
Milk
Adds moisture and tenderness and helps the browning of the crust.
Lard
Adds fat that shortens the gluten, giving a tender, soft crumb.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor, and browns the crust when brushed on.

The step that matters

Kneading the dough for 15 minutes. Kneading develops the gluten that traps gas from rising, so the rolls stay light. Under-kneaded dough bakes up dense, while overworking can make it tough.

“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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