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Soter's Brioche Rolls

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Soter's Brioche Rolls

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

  1. Place 4 pounds of flour on a clean surface, reserving 1 pound on the side.

  2. Make a hole in the center and pour in ⅓ cup of warm water with dissolved yeast.

  3. Mix into a stiff but delicate paste, roll into a ball, and cut an incision across it.

  4. Place in a floured basin in a warm place until very light.

  5. Make a large hole in the remaining flour, add salt, butter, and eggs.

  6. Mix into a soft, flexible paste, then flatten it out.

  7. Place the leaven in the center, fold over, and work until well combined.

  8. Flour a clean cloth, wrap the paste, and let it rest overnight.

  9. In the morning, mold into small rolls and place on a baking sheet.

  10. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°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.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + eggtop 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

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