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Bread

Sally-lunn, with Yeast

A yeast-leavened, sweetened bread made with butter, milk, eggs, sugar, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Sally-lunn, with Yeast

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 batter

  1. Dissolve the butter in the warmed milk.

  2. Beat the yolks of the eggs well and add to the milk and butter mixture.

  3. Stir in the sugar and yeast.

  4. Gradually mix in the sifted flour.

  5. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter.

  6. Let the batter rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Shape and bake

  1. Beat the batter again and pour it into greased pans about 1 inch deep.

  2. Allow to rise a second time in a warm place.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until light and golden.

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. Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together738 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Butter and flour 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

Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, softening the crumb and carrying flavour.
Eggs
Egg whites whipped to stiffness lighten the batter, while yolks add richness and structure.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars and produces gas that makes the batter rise and turn airy.
Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the bread its structure once baked.
Sweet milk
Hydrates the flour to form the dough and adds moisture and softness.
Granulated sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning to the crust.

The step that matters

Let the batter rise until doubled. Yeast needs a warm, adequate rise to build gas and air cells; under-proofing leaves a dense loaf, while the second rise must also be allowed to finish before baking so the crumb stays 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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