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Washing-ton Bread

A yeast-leavened bread made with milk, butter, eggs, sugar, and soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Washing-ton Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Combine one pound of flour, one pint of milk, and a small piece of butter in the milk. When lukewarm, stir in the flour and a half-cupful of yeast, and set it to rise.

  2. In the morning, mix in two beaten eggs, let it rise a few minutes, and bake. Put it in a pudding dish or pan to bake.

Make the dough

  1. Take three teacups of light dough, mix into it three spoonfuls of melted butter, one and a half ounces of sugar, three well-beaten eggs, and half a teaspoonful of dissolved soda.

  2. Mix all together, and add flour to make the dough stiff enough to knead.

  3. Knead well and let it rise.

Shape and bake

  1. When light, shape into small cakes and bake as soon as light.

  2. Optionally mix in dried currants for improvement to the buns.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

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

By Keokuk (Iowa). Westminster Presbyterian church. 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.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the dough's structure, giving the bread body once kneaded.
Yeast (in the method)
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and turn light.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the dough hold its shape.
Butter
Adds fat, softening the crumb and adding richness.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning.
Milk
Moistens the dough and adds softness and richness.

The step that matters

Knead well and let it rise. Kneading develops gluten, which traps the gas yeast produces. Under-kneading leaves a weak dough that rises poorly and bakes dense.

“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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