Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Parker House Rolls
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.
Prepare the dough
In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, and lard.
Pour boiling milk over the mixture, except for the yeast, and let it cool to lukewarm.
Add the yeast and mix well in the morning.
Knead the dough, adding enough flour to make it stiff like biscuit dough.
Shape and rise
Shape the dough into rolls by rolling it out thin, cutting with a biscuit cutter, and folding with a little butter on one end.
Let the rolls rise on the pans before baking.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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 structure that gives the rolls their shape and chew.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
- Lard
- Adds fat that keeps the crumb soft and tender.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture and richness that softens the dough.
The step that matters
Cool the milk to lukewarm before adding the yeast. Yeast is killed by very hot liquid. Lukewarm milk keeps the yeast alive so it can produce the gas that raises the dough.
“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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