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 ↓
Rice Bread
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.
Prepare the rice
If using uncooked rice, cook ½ cup rice with 1 cup water until very tender.
Optionally, pass the cooked rice through a ricer or colander.
Make and rise the dough
In a bowl, combine boiled rice, salt, sugar, shortening, and lukewarm water.
Gradually add sifted flour and yeast, mixing until a dough forms.
Knead the dough until smooth, then let it rise until doubled in size.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a greased pan.
Let it rise again until it has risen above the edge of the pan.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30-40 minutes.
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.
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,744 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Boiled rice
- Adds moisture and a soft, tender crumb to the dough.
- Sifted flour
- Provides the gluten structure that holds the loaf together.
- Dry yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and gives the bread its airy texture.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and contributes to browning in the crust.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that softens the crumb and gives a richer texture.
The step that matters
Kneading and the first rise. Kneading develops the gluten that traps gas from the yeast. Letting the dough rise until doubled allows the yeast to build enough gas for a light loaf.
“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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