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Vienna Rolls

Vienna rolls are yeast dough rolls baked at 350°F, brushed with milk, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Vienna Rolls

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 ↓

Vienna Rolls

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the dough

  1. Scald the milk and add the butter.

  2. Let it cool.

  3. Soften the yeast in warm water, then add it to the cooled milk along with the flour and salt.

  4. Mix well and beat hard for about 10 minutes.

  5. Set the mixture in a warm place to rise overnight.

Shape and rise

  1. In the morning, roll out the dough to ½ inch thick and cut with a large cutter or saucer.

  2. Fold each piece over to form a half round, wetting between the folds to help them stick.

  3. Place on buttered baking sheets, ensuring they do not touch each other.

  4. Set in a warm place until light, about 30 to 45 minutes.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes.

  2. Brush the tops with milk for a glossy finish and serve hot, covered with a napkin.

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.

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.

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

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

All-purpose flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the rolls their structure and chew.
Yeast
Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes the rolls rise and become light.
Sweet milk
Adds moisture and richness, and its sugars help the crust brown in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat, which softens the crumb and gives a tender texture.
Coarse sea salt
Controls yeast activity and strengthens the dough's flavour and structure.

The step that matters

Beating the dough and letting it rise fully. Beating develops gluten so the dough can trap gas. Under-kneading or under-proofing leaves dense rolls, while over-proofing makes them collapse, so the dough should look visibly light before shaping.

“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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