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Vienna Rolls

Vienna rolls are yeast dough rolls baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Vienna 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 ↓

Vienna 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. Combine milk and yeast in a bowl.

  2. Add flour to create a stiff batter and let it rise overnight.

Make the dough

  1. In the morning, add the egg and butter, then mix well.

  2. Add more flour to make the dough stiff enough to roll.

  3. Knead the dough again and roll it out.

Shape and bake

  1. Cut the dough with a round cutter and fold it over.

  2. Place the rolls in a pan, cover tightly, and let them rise until very light.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

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. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Milk
Provides moisture and liquid that hydrates the flour into a batter and dough.
Homemade yeast
Ferments the batter overnight, producing gas that makes the rolls rise.
Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the rolls their structure and chew.
Egg
Adds richness and structure, helping the crumb set and the rolls brown.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.

The step that matters

Final rise in the pan. The rolls must rise until very light before baking, because the yeast's gas expansion sets the final volume. Covering tightly keeps the surface from drying, which would stop the dough from expanding and leave dense rolls.

“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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