Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Light Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the potatoes
Peel and boil the potatoes in 1 quart of water until done.
Mash the potatoes and pour the potato water over them; let stand until lukewarm.
Make the dough
Dissolve ¼ cup dry yeast in a little potato water and mix with the potatoes.
Let the mixture stand in a warm place until light.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar to the mixture before it lightens.
In a bowl, combine 1 quart flour, lard the size of a hen's egg, 1 level teaspoon of salt, and ½ teaspoon of sugar.
Mix in ¼ of the yeast mixture and add water if necessary; work until smooth.
Set the dough to rise.
Shape and bake
Once risen, shape into rolls and let them rise again.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°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.
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.
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Sugar + flourtop 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).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,978 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Potatoes
- Mashed potatoes add moisture and starch that keep the rolls soft.
- Dry yeast
- Yeast ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise and grow light.
- Flour
- Flour forms the gluten network that gives the rolls their structure.
- Lard
- Fat coats the flour and tenderises the crumb, softening the texture.
- Sugar
- Sugar feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning.
The step that matters
Let the mixture stand in a warm place until light. Yeast activity depends on warmth. Too cool and the dough rises slowly; too hot and the yeast dies. Waiting until the mixture is visibly light shows the yeast has fermented enough to lift the dough.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, egg):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, egg. 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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