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Dinner Rolls

A yeast-based roll made from flour, milk, water, sugar, and yeast, baked until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Dinner Rolls

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 sponge

  1. Combine flour and salt in a basin.

  2. Cream together sugar and yeast in a separate bowl.

  3. Add half of the milk and water mixture to the sugar-yeast mixture.

  4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.

  5. Pour the yeast mixture into the well and mix.

  6. Stir in enough flour to form a stiff batter.

  7. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the batter.

  8. Cover the batter with a clean cloth.

  9. Let the batter sponge in a warm place for 10 minutes.

Knead and shape

  1. Stir in the remaining flour.

  2. Add the rest of the milk and water.

  3. Knead the dough well.

  4. Cut a cross on top of the dough.

  5. Let the dough rise for 1 hour.

  6. Divide the dough into 168 equal portions.

  7. Shape each portion into a small roll.

  8. Place the rolls on a lightly floured baking sheet.

  9. Let the rolls rise for 15 minutes.

Bake

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Bake the rolls for about 15 minutes.

  3. Brush the rolls with milk or a little beaten egg just before they are done.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the gluten structure that traps gas and gives the rolls their body.
German yeast
Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Milk and water
Supplies the liquid that hydrates the flour and activates the yeast, and milk adds softness and browning.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast for fermentation and adds a little sweetness and browning.
Salt
Strengthens the gluten and controls the speed of yeast fermentation for flavour.

The step that matters

Knead the dough well. Kneading develops the gluten network that holds the gas bubbles from the yeast. Underkneaded dough rises poorly and yields dense rolls, while the stiff batter must be fully worked into a smooth, elastic dough.

“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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