Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,283 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Parker House Rolls
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dough
In a large bowl, rub together the flour, sugar, and lard.
Make a hole in the center.
Pour in the cool scalded milk and yeast.
Let the mixture stand overnight.
Mix the dough.
Knead the dough until smooth.
Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 2-3 hours.
Shape and bake
Roll out the dough.
Place a piece of butter on each roll.
Let the rolls rise again until puffy.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°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.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Forms the gluten network that gives the rolls their structure and chew.
- Yeast
- Produces gas as it ferments, causing the dough to rise and become light.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, and its sugars help the crust brown.
- Lard
- Shortens the gluten strands, giving the rolls a tender, soft crumb.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and promotes browning of the crust.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavor to the rolls and softens the crust as it melts.
The step that matters
Let the dough rise until doubled in size. The yeast needs enough time to produce gas and build structure. Underproofed dough stays dense, while overproofed dough can collapse or lose its elasticity.
“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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