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Pear-Lemon Tea Loaf

A loaf of bread with pears, lemon zest, and anise seeds baked to a golden finish.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pear match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 923 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven350°F
Time50 minutes

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Coat 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

  3. In medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and anise seeds.

  4. In 2-cup measure, combine buttermilk, oil, lemon peel and vanilla. Set both aside.

  5. Cut whole pear in half and grate halves coarsely, discarding cores (you should have 1 cup). Transfer grated pear to small bowl. Toss with lemon juice. Set aside.

Make the batter

  1. In large bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Beat with electric mixer at high speed until pale and thickened, 3 to 5 minutes.

  2. With rubber spatula, alternately fold in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, making 3 flour additions and 2 buttermilk additions.

  3. Drain grated pear, then gently fold into mixture.

  4. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan and spread evenly.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake loaf until light golden and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50 minutes. If loaf is too brown after 45 minutes, cover lightly with foil for last 5 minutes.

  2. Let cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Loosen edges and turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lemon + peartop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together923 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + peartop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together334 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Anise + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together91 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  4. Flour + buttermilktop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Flour + anisetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together263 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

Eggs
Bind the batter and, when beaten with sugar, add lift and a pale, airy structure.
All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure that sets the crumb as the loaf bakes.
Whole wheat flour
Adds a nutty flavor and a denser, more tender crumb to the loaf.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that helps the loaf rise.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity activates the baking soda for rising.
Pears
Contribute moisture and fruity sweetness that keeps the crumb soft.

The step that matters

Folding in the flour and buttermilk alternately. Adding flour and liquid in portions keeps the batter smooth and well emulsified. Overmixing once flour is in develops gluten, which can make the loaf tough.

Flavor stand-ins for the anise

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, wheat, buttermilk, lemon, vanilla, pear, egg):

  1. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  2. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  3. Gingerbetter flavor fit
  4. Anisethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, wheat, buttermilk, lemon, vanilla, pear, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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