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 ↓
305 Bath Buns
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.
Prepare the dough
Rub the butter into the flour.
Beat in the eggs and the milk mixed smoothly with the yeast.
Mix thoroughly and let rise for 1.5 to 2 hours.
Mix in the sugar.
Shape and bake
Form into buns and dust with caster sugar.
Sprinkle coarsely pounded lump sugar on top of each bun.
Let them rise for a few minutes, then bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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
- Provides the structure that holds the buns together as the dough sets.
- Butter
- Rubbed into the flour, it adds richness and a tender crumb.
- Eggs
- Add structure, richness and colour to the dough.
- Yeast
- Produces gas during the rise, which lightens the dough.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and activates the yeast.
- Castor sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crumb brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise. Yeast needs enough time to produce gas and stretch the gluten network. Rising too little leaves the buns dense, while the dough must still be given the full rise before shaping so the crumb turns out light.
“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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