Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Dough Nuts
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Rub the butter into the flour and add the sugar.
Beat the egg and mix it with the milk.
Combine all ingredients to form a dough.
Turn out the dough and roll it lightly.
Shape the dough into small rings.
Fry and coat
Fry the rings in boiling oil until golden brown.
Drain thoroughly and roll in powdered sugar.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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).
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
- Self-raising flour
- Provides the structure of the dough and, with its raising agent, lets the doughnuts puff in the hot oil.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds richness and structure as it sets during frying.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and richness to the dough.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form a soft dough and adds moisture and softness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown in the hot oil.
The step that matters
Fry the rings in boiling oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the doughnuts absorb excess oil and turn greasy; if it is too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks through. Steady heat gives an even, golden result.
“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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