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 ↓
Good Yeast and Good Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Combine warm water and sugar in a bowl.
Sprinkle yeast on top and let sit for 5 minutes until frothy.
Add flour and salt to the yeast mixture.
Stir until a dough forms.
Knead and rise
Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth.
Place the dough in a greased bowl.
Cover and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Punch down the dough.
Shape and bake
Shape it into a loaf.
Place it in a greased loaf pan.
Cover and let it rise again until doubled, about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Its proteins form gluten, giving the dough structure that holds the risen loaf.
- Active dry yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide gas as it feeds, which makes the dough rise and become airy.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast to get it started and helps the crust brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Sprinkle yeast and wait for it to froth. Frothing shows the yeast is alive and active. If no foam forms after 5 minutes, the yeast may be dead or the water too hot or cold, and the dough will not rise properly.
“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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