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 ↓
Potato Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the potatoes
Use leftover boiled or baked potatoes, or boil potatoes in their skins until tender.
If using cold leftover potatoes, place them in boiling water for a few minutes to facilitate mashing.
Peel and mash the potatoes or pass them through a ricer to remove lumps.
Make and rise the dough
In a bowl, combine 1 cup of cool mashed potatoes, 1 teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons sugar, shortening (if using), and yeast mixed with 4 tablespoons lukewarm water.
Stir in 2 to 3 cups of sifted flour until thoroughly blended.
Cover and let rise until soft and light, about 2 hours.
Knead in enough more flour to make a dough slightly stiffer than white bread.
Knead until smooth and elastic.
Cover and let rise again until very light, about 1 hour.
Shape and bake
Knead down, mold, and place in a pan to rise until 2 to 3 times the original bulk.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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).
-
Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mashed potatoes
- Add moisture and softness, giving the bread a tender crumb.
- Yeast
- Produces gas during rising, leavening the dough so it becomes light.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten structure that traps gas and gives the loaf its shape.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
The step that matters
Knead in the flour to the right stiffness. Too much flour makes the dough dense and dry, while too little leaves it sticky and hard to shape. Kneading develops gluten so the dough holds the gas produced by the yeast.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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