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Cold Weather Take Half a Yeast Cake

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Cinnamon and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cold Weather Take Half a Yeast Cake

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

  1. In the morning, mix the cinnamon with the flour and let it rise all day, covered.

  2. In the evening, add the beaten egg and knead for 8-10 minutes.

  3. Cover the bowl again and let it rise overnight.

  4. In the morning, stir in the cinnamon and raisins.

  5. Shape into a loaf using minimal flour and place in a buttered bread pan.

  6. Let it rise to the top of the pan before baking.

  7. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for about 1 hour.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Cinnamon + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg):

  1. Jalapenofits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Cinnamonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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