Why it works: Malt and flour work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 260 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Parisian Barm
Ingredients
Directions
Make the malt liquid
Heat 15 lbs. of water to 180°F in a clean tub and cover it to maintain temperature.
Allow the water temperature to fall to 162°F, then add the malt.
After 2.5 hours, strain off the liquid and add enough water at 150°F to total 15 lbs. and bring the temperature to 128°F.
Make the barm
Stir in the flour by hand, then add the boiling water and stir vigorously.
Ensure the mixture is not too stiff and tastes sweet when freshly made.
Do not cool the mixture artificially; stir vigorously when storing.
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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Malt + flourtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together260 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Malt
- Provides enzymes and sugars that feed the yeast and give the barm its sweet taste.
- Flour
- Forms the thick body of the barm, giving it structure to hold the fermenting mixture.
- Water
- Carries the malt's sugars and enzymes and hydrates the flour to form a workable mixture.
The step that matters
Stirring in the flour and boiling water. Adding the flour and hot water together and stirring vigorously keeps the mixture smooth and evenly hydrated. If it is left stiff or lumpy, the starches and enzymes cannot work evenly, so the barm may not turn sweet as intended.
“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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