Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Nut Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Sift together flour and baking powder.
In a bowl, mix half of the flour with nuts and raisins.
In another bowl, beat sugar, egg, and milk together.
Make the batter
Add the sifted flour to the wet mixture.
Fold in the flour with nuts and raisins.
Pour the batter into 2 small greased pans.
Let it stand for about 20 minutes.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for nearly 1 hour.
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.
-
Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Nuts + raisintop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together490 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Flour + nutstop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,180 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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 structure that holds the loaf together as it bakes.
- Rumford baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, making the loaf rise and become light.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps set the crumb as it bakes.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
- Milk
- Supplies moisture that hydrates the flour and keeps the crumb tender.
- Chopped nuts
- Add crunch and a toasty, rich flavour to the crumb.
The step that matters
Fold in the flour with nuts and raisins. Folding gently keeps the batter light. Vigorous stirring develops gluten in the flour, which can make the bread dense and tough, and the baking powder's rise is lost if air is knocked out.
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, raisin, sugar, egg, milk):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Pistachiofits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, sugar, egg, milk. 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.
More nut bread recipes
You might also like
Cornbread345 recipes
Bread Pudding336 recipes
Milk Bread Rolls242 recipes
Potato Bread124 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.