Name: Making Our Daily Bread
Ingredients: bread dough; butter (optional); egg white (optional)

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Making Our Daily Bread

Ingredients

bread dough
butter (optional)
egg white (optional)

Directions

Bake the bread until well done, ensuring it does not have a starchy taste.
Turn the bread out onto a cooling rack immediately after baking to allow air circulation.
Do not cover the bread until it is completely cool to prevent moisture buildup.
For a tender crust, rub the top of the warm bread with a small amount of butter.
For a crisp loaf, rub the top with beaten egg white until stiff.
Once cooled, store the bread in a clean, dry bread box or drawer without wrapping.
Wash and dry the storage container every two or three days to prevent mold.
Keep the container covered and avoid mixing fresh bread with stale crumbs.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).