Why it works: Butter and milk 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 gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Mix the dough
Combine flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, and lard in a large bowl.
Pour boiling milk over the mixture, except for the yeast, and let it cool to lukewarm.
Add the yeast and mix well in the morning.
Knead the dough at noon, adding enough flour to make it as stiff as biscuit dough.
Shape the rolls
Once the dough is light, shape it into rolls.
Roll out the dough thinly.
Cut the rolled dough with a biscuit cutter.
Shape the cut pieces into oblongs.
Spread a little butter on one end and fold over.
Rise and bake
Let the rolls rise on the pans before baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 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).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and lets it be kneaded and shaped.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a rich flavour.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture and proteins that help the dough brown and feel soft.
- Lard
- Adds fat that makes the rolls tender and flaky.
The step that matters
Adding the yeast after the milk has cooled. Yeast is killed by very hot liquid, so the boiling milk must cool to lukewarm before the yeast goes in, or the dough will not rise.
“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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