Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Potato Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the potatoes
Use leftover boiled or baked potatoes, or boil potatoes in their skins until tender.
Peel and mash the potatoes or pass them through a ricer to remove lumps. If using cold leftover potatoes, place them in boiling water for a few minutes to facilitate mashing.
Make the dough
Mix 1 cup of cool mashed potatoes with 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, shortening (if using), and 1 cake of compressed yeast mixed with 4 tablespoons lukewarm water.
Stir in 1 to 1½ cups of sifted flour until thoroughly blended.
Cover and let rise until soft and light, about 2 hours.
Knead in enough more flour to make a dough slightly stiffer than white bread.
Knead until smooth and elastic.
Cover and let rise again until very light, about 1 hour.
Shape and bake
Knead down, mold, and finish as usual.
Allow to rise in the pan until 2 to 3 times the original bulk.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 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.
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mashed potatoes
- Add moisture and softness, giving the bread a tender crumb.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the dough structure and elasticity.
- Yeast
- Produces gas during rising, leavening the dough so it becomes light.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that softens the crumb and keeps the bread moist.
The step that matters
Kneading until smooth and elastic. Kneading develops the gluten network in the flour, which traps the gas yeast produces. Under-kneaded dough rises poorly and bakes up dense.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour. 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.
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