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London Buns

London buns are sweet yeast breads with candied peel and sultanas, topped with sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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London Buns

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 ↓

London 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 dough

  1. In a basin, combine the flour and butter, rubbing the butter into the flour.

  2. Cream the yeast with the sugar and strain it into the center of the flour.

  3. Add the warm milk and drop in the eggs, then beat the mixture until air bubbles form.

  4. Cover with a cloth and let it rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

Shape and bake

  1. Once risen, mix in the sugar, candied peel, and sultanas.

  2. Form the mixture into small round buns and place sugar pieces on top.

  3. Let the buns prove in a warm place for 20 minutes.

  4. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 10 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. 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 that holds the dough and buns together as they rise.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender crumb and rich flavor.
German yeast
Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become airy.
Eggs
Add structure, richness, and moisture to the dough.
Sultanas
Add sweetness and chewy fruit pieces throughout the buns.

The step that matters

Let the dough rise fully before adding the fruit. Yeast needs time in a warm place to produce gas and expand the dough. Under-proofed dough stays dense, while the rise gives the buns their light, airy 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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