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 ↓
Currant Buns
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the dough
Dissolve the yeast in a little warm water.
Stir the dissolved yeast into the lukewarm milk.
Add the salt and 2½ cups of flour.
Beat the mixture hard for a few minutes.
Place the mixture in a warm spot to rise for about 5 hours until light.
Once risen, work in the softened butter and sugar.
Fold in the currants.
Use the remaining flour for your hands and molding board.
Roll the dough out to ½ inch thick.
Shape and bake
Cut into round cakes.
Place the cakes in a buttered baking pan.
Allow them to rise until light.
Brush the tops with sweetened, beaten egg white.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the gluten structure that holds the risen dough and shaped buns together.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, making the dough rise and turn light.
- Butter
- Softens the crumb and adds richness and tenderness to the dough.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning to the crust.
- English currants
- Add pockets of fruitiness and sweetness scattered through the crumb.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and adds richness and softness to the dough.
The step that matters
Beat the mixture hard for a few minutes. Vigorous beating develops gluten, giving the dough the strength to trap gas and rise light instead of staying dense.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, butter, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, butter, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
You might also like
Red Currant Jelly65 recipes
Currant Ice Cream32 recipes
Currant Sherbet9 recipes
Currant and Raspberry Ice7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.