Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Graham Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine Graham meal, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
Add the egg and mix until well combined.
Spoon the mixture into greased muffin tins.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
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.
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Graham meal
- Provides the coarse, nutty wheat base and most of the structure of the rolls.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten-forming structure so the rolls hold their shape.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds richness and structure as it sets.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven so the rolls rise and turn light.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the rolls and helps the crust brown.
The step that matters
Baking until golden brown. Baking powder starts working as soon as it is wet, so the batter should go into a hot oven promptly. Browning comes from the sugar and starches on the surface, so pulling the rolls too early leaves them pale and dense, while too long dries them out.
“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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