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Buns

A sweet yeast bun with sultanas, candied peel, and butter, baked to a golden finish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Buns

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the sponge

  1. Sift the flour into a warm bowl.

  2. Cream the yeast and sugar, then add lukewarm milk.

  3. Gradually strain the milk mixture into the flour, stirring with a wooden spoon to make a smooth batter.

  4. Cover with a cloth and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Make the dough

  1. Rub the butter into the second portion of flour, then mix in the prepared fruit and dry ingredients.

  2. Once the sponge has risen, beat in the dry ingredients and beaten eggs.

  3. Mix thoroughly and beat with your hand for about 5 minutes.

  4. Cover and let rise again in a warm place for 1½ hours.

Shape and bake

  1. Form into small buns and place on a greased and floured baking tray.

  2. Let prove in a warm place for 10 to 15 minutes.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.

  4. When ready, brush with milk and sugar to glaze.

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. Milk + buttertop 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

Flour
Forms the structure of the dough and sets during baking.
Yeast
Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and carries flavour.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the buns hold together and brown.
Castor sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning in the crust.
Milk
Hydrates the flour and yeast to form a dough and adds softness.

The step that matters

Beat the dough thoroughly before the second rise. Beating develops the gluten network that traps the gas from the yeast. Thorough mixing and beating spreads the fruit and fat evenly, so the buns rise evenly and keep an open, light texture.

“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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