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Sour Milk Doughnuts

A yeast‑free doughnut made with sour milk, sweet milk, butter, sugar, and spices, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Sour Milk Doughnuts

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.

  2. Add the melted butter, sour milk, sweet milk, sugar, and beaten egg.

  3. Mix until combined, then add more flour as needed to knead the dough.

Shape and fry

  1. Pat, roll, and shape the dough into doughnuts.

  2. Fry the shaped doughnuts in hot oil until golden brown.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
Provides the structure that holds the dough together and lets it be kneaded and shaped.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lightens the dough.
Baking powder
Adds additional leavening so the doughnuts rise and stay tender.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the dough and contributes richness and flavor.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds a tangy flavor and tender crumb.
Egg
Binds the dough and adds richness and structure.

The step that matters

Frying the shaped doughnuts in hot oil. If the oil is too cool, doughnuts absorb excess oil and turn greasy; if too hot, the outside browns before the inside cooks through. Steady, moderately hot oil gives even golden browning and a cooked centre.

“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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