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 ↓
Potato Buns
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.
Make the dough
Boil and mash enough potatoes to make 1 pint.
Mix the mashed potatoes with 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 2 beaten eggs, and 1 cup of yeast.
Let the mixture stand overnight.
In the morning, add ½ cup of yeast, 1 cup of sugar, ½ cup of lard and butter, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda.
Add enough flour to stiffen the dough and let it rise until light.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into cakes and let them rise again.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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
- Mashed potatoes
- Adds moisture and softness, so the buns stay tender after baking.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that the dough sets around as it rises and bakes.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help bind the dough, giving a firmer, more cohesive crumb.
- Yeast
- Ferments the dough so it rises and becomes light and airy.
- Lard and butter
- Add fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a richer flavour.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning to the crust.
The step that matters
Adding enough flour to stiffen the dough. Potato and egg doughs are soft and sticky, so too little flour leaves the dough slack and it may not hold its shape or rise well. Add flour gradually until the dough is firm enough to shape without sticking.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg, butter):
- Chivefits better
- Leekfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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