Skip to main content
Bread

Galettes

A yeast dough made with Vienna and all-purpose flour, butter, eggs, and milk, baked into buns.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Galettes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm milk.

  2. Mix the mixture with all-purpose flour to form a dough and let it rise in a warm place.

  3. Gradually add Vienna flour, butter, and eggs, then beat for 20 minutes.

  4. Allow the dough to rise for 1½ to 2 hours.

Shape and prove

  1. Cut the dough into buns, knead them, and place on floured tins.

  2. Let the buns rise near the fire until the tops crack.

Bake and glaze

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

  2. Brush with milk and sugar when half baked.

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.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter 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

Vienna flour
Strong flour whose higher protein builds a stretchy gluten network for a lighter bun.
All-purpose flour
Forms the initial dough with the yeast, adding structure to support the later rise.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a richer mouthfeel.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments sugars, causing the dough to rise.
Milk
Provides moisture and milk proteins that help browning and soften the crumb.
Eggs
Add structure, richness and moisture, helping the buns set and colour in the oven.

The step that matters

Beating the dough for 20 minutes. Long beating develops gluten so the dough can trap gas and rise well. Under-beating leaves a dense bun, while the dough must still be kept soft and not overworked.

“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.

You might also like

CornbreadCornbread345 recipesBread PuddingBread Pudding336 recipesMilk Bread RollsMilk Bread Rolls242 recipesPotato BreadPotato Bread124 recipes