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
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
In a basin, combine the flour, tartaric acid, baking soda, and a little salt.
Rub in the butter, then add the sultanas and sugar.
Make ½ pint of milk using condensed milk and add the beaten egg.
Shape and bake
Stir the milk mixture into the flour mixture to form a dough.
Divide the dough into buns and place them on a buttered baking tray.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 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.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + condensed milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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).
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 and buns together as they bake.
- Tartaric acid
- Reacts with the baking soda to release gas, helping the buns rise.
- Baking soda
- Produces carbon dioxide with the acid, giving the buns lift and an open crumb.
- Egg
- Adds binding and richness, helping the dough hold together and set as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a rich flavour.
- Sultanas
- Add sweetness and chewy fruit pieces throughout the buns.
The step that matters
Combine the milk mixture with the flour mixture. Mixing only until the dough just comes together keeps the buns tender. Overworking develops gluten, which makes them tough. Because the acid and baking soda react as soon as they meet liquid, the buns should go into the oven promptly to keep their 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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