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Swiss Rolls

A yeast-based roll made with eggs, sugar, flour, lard or butter, and milk, baked after rising.

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

Swiss Rolls

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 dough

  1. Beat the eggs and sugar together, then add the lard or butter and mix well.

  2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and yeast, then mix the dry ingredients into the egg mixture to form a stiff dough.

  3. Let the dough rise for six hours.

Shape and bake

  1. Roll out the dough and spread butter over the surface.

  2. Fold the dough and cut it into round or oblong shapes.

  3. Place the rolls in a pan and let them rise for two hours.

  4. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 20 minutes.

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. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 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

Eggs
Add structure and richness to the stiff dough as they set in the oven.
Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and chew.
Yeast
Produces gas as it feeds, making the dough rise and become light.
Lard or butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and mild browning.

The step that matters

Letting the dough rise for six hours. Yeast needs enough time to produce gas and develop flavor. Rising too short leaves the rolls dense, while over-rising can weaken the structure so they collapse in the oven.

“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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