Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Parker House Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Boil the milk in a mixing bowl.
Add sugar, butter or lard, and salt.
Let the mixture cool until almost lukewarm.
Dissolve the yeast in water.
Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.
Knead the dough for at least 15 minutes, being careful not to make it too stiff.
Place the dough back in the bowl.
Grease the top.
Let it rise for about 3 hours or until doubled in size.
Shape the rolls
Roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick.
Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter.
Crease the center of each roll with a knife.
Fold the rolls with the crease on the outside.
Grease the inside with melted butter.
Place the rolls in pans.
Let them rise again.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, giving the rolls a soft, tender crumb.
- Yeast
- Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes the rolls rise and become light.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten structure that traps gas and gives the rolls their body.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.
- Butter or lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
The step that matters
Knead the dough without making it too stiff. Kneading develops gluten so the dough can trap gas and rise well. Adding too much flour makes the dough stiff, which limits expansion and yields dense rolls.
“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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