Name: Light Rolls
Ingredients: 1 pint buttermilk; flour (enough to make a batter); ½ cake compressed yeast; lukewarm water (for soaking yeast); 1 pint warm water; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 teaspoon sugar; ¾ cup lard

Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Light Rolls

Ingredients

Directions

Scald the buttermilk and strain it if it curds.
Once cool, add enough flour to make a batter.
Soak the yeast in lukewarm water and add it to the batter.
Let the mixture sit for several hours or overnight to leaven.
Add warm water, salt, sugar, and lard to the leavened batter.
Mix into a stiff dough and knead well.
Place the dough in a greased pan and cover the top to prevent crusting.
Keep the dough in a moderately warm place until it rises.
Once light, knead again and shape into rolls.

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.

Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,973 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).