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Potato Yeast

A homemade yeast starter made from hops, potatoes, sugar, salt and flour, used to raise bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 ingredients
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Potato Yeast

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 Yeast

six loaves

Ingredients

Directions

Start the potato yeast

  1. Boil a good handful of hops in one quart of water.

  2. Pour it over two teacups of grated potatoes while boiling hot.

  3. Stir the mixture until it just comes to a boil.

  4. Add one-quarter teacup of salt and one-half teacup of sugar.

  5. Let stand until cool.

  6. Add the usual quantity of good yeast to start it.

  7. When raised, put it into a jar, cover closely and set in a clean place.

  8. Use one teacup for about four loaves of bread.

Make the sponge

  1. Boil one-half cup of hops and two potatoes in separate pans.

  2. Strain both liquids boiling hot onto a large cup of flour, one spoon of salt, half cup of sugar, and a cup of yeast.

  3. Pour it into a jug and set it in a cool place.

  4. Boil two ounces of hops in four quarts of water twenty minutes.

  5. Strain through a sieve and add one coffeecup of sugar to the hop water.

  6. When cool enough not to scald, stir in one coffeecup of flour.

  7. Let the mixture stand in a warm place three days, stirring frequently.

  8. On the third day, boil three potatoes and press them through the colander.

  9. Stir gradually into the hot water, adding a handful of salt.

  10. Let stand till next morning, then put into a jug.

Finish and use

  1. To the sponge next morning add three good-sized potatoes pressed through the colander, with the water they are boiled in.

  2. Shake well every time before using.

  3. Use a teacup full for six loaves.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

665Calories
17 gProtein
1 gFat
145 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Hopnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Home for the Friendless (Chicago, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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.

  1. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  2. Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + potatotop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

  5. Hops + potatotop 39% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Add starch and moisture that feed the yeast and thicken the starter.
Flour
Supplies starch that ferments and gives the sponge its body.
Yeast
Leavens the mixture, producing gas that makes the bread rise.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast, speeding fermentation.
Hops
Adds bitterness and aroma and helps keep the starter from spoiling.

The step that matters

Let the mixture stand in a warm place three days, stirring frequently.. Yeast ferments best at a steady warm temperature. Stirring spreads the food and yeast evenly and releases built-up gas, while a place that is too cool slows fermentation and one that is too hot can kill the yeast.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, sugar, flour):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against hops, 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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