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 ↓
Dough Nuts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Sift the flour into a bowl.
Rub the butter into the flour, then add the salt.
Combine the yeast and castor sugar in another bowl and cream until liquid.
Beat the egg.
Mix the beaten egg with the tepid milk.
Pour the mixture onto the yeast and sugar.
Stir everything into the flour mixture.
Beat the dough well, then mix the dough well.
Set the dough to rise in a warm place for two hours.
Shape the doughnuts
Take a small piece of dough.
Spread the dough out.
Place some jam in the center.
Roll the dough into a ball.
Place the doughnut on a floured baking tin to rise for a few minutes.
Fry and finish
Fry in boiling fat for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on size.
Remove the doughnut from the fat.
Sprinkle it with castor sugar immediately.
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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Flour + buttertop 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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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 that holds the dough together and traps gas as it rises.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Egg
- Adds structure and richness, helping the dough hold its shape.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the dough and gives a softer crumb.
- Castor sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and a little browning.
- Milk
- Provides moisture that hydrates the flour and activates the yeast.
The step that matters
Frying in boiling fat. If the fat is too cool, the doughnuts absorb excess oil and turn greasy. If it is too hot, the outside browns quickly while the centre stays raw. Steady heat lets the dough cook through as it turns golden.
“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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