Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Lemon Buns
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a warm oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
In a mortar, rub the ammonia into the milk until dissolved.
On a clean surface, weigh the flour and create a well in the center.
Add the sugar and butter into the well, along with the lemon essence, and rub together until smooth.
Incorporate the eggs and the dissolved ammonia, mixing into a smooth paste.
Shape and bake
Divide the dough into 3-oz pieces and flatten each piece.
Brush the tops with milk, then coat with caster sugar.
Place the buns on greased baking tins and top each with a slice of lemon peel.
Bake in a warm oven at 350 °F (175 °C) for 1 hour.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, giving the buns a tender, short crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once combined with the liquids and eggs.
- Eggs
- Bind the dough and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
- Ammonia
- Acts as a leavening agent, releasing gas that lifts the buns as they bake.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the dough and helps the tops brown when brushed on.
The step that matters
Dissolving the ammonia fully in the milk. Undissolved ammonia leaves pockets of concentrated alkali in the dough, causing uneven rising and harsh patches in the finished buns. Rubbing it completely into the milk first spreads it evenly through the dough.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, flour, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, flour, egg, milk. 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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