Name: Rye Bread with Sponge
Ingredients: 18 lbs rye flour; 2.5 lbs potato flour; 18 tablespoons wheat flour; 4 gallons water; 12 oz yeast; 4.5 lbs wheat flour; 2 lbs potato flour; 2 gallons water; 1.5 lbs coarse sea salt

Why it works: Rye and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Rye Bread with Sponge

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, combine 18 lbs of rye flour, 2.5 lbs of potato flour, 18 tablespoons of wheat flour, and 4 gallons of water.
Add 12 oz of yeast and let the mixture sit for 4.5 hours at 78°F (25°C).
After 2 hours, prepare the sour dough by mixing 4 lbs of sour dough, 2 lbs of rye flour, and 2.5 lbs of water.
Let the sour dough sit for 2.5 hours at 78°F (25°C).
For the final dough, mix 35 lbs of wheat flour, 2 lbs of potato flour, and 2 gallons of water.
Add 1.5 lbs of coarse sea salt and mix well.
Transfer the dough to a divider and maintain a temperature of 80°F (27°C).
Allow a total of 4.5 hours for the dough to rise.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Rye + wheattop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together404 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Potato + wheattop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together235 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rye + potatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together75 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).