Why it works: Buttermilk and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,973 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Snowflake Bread with Buttermilk
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
In a large bowl, combine water and buttermilk.
Dissolve yeast in the mixture.
Add sugar, coarse sea salt, and lard to the bowl.
Mix until a smooth dough forms.
Let the dough rise until it doubles in size.
Shape and bake
Roll the dough through a pasta machine 10 to 15 times.
Scale and shape the dough into pans.
Let it rise again, then bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Buttermilk + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,973 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Yeast
- Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning in the crust.
- Buttermilk
- Adds moisture and acidity that contribute to a tender crumb.
“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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