Why it works: Potato and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,355 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Potato Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
Make the potato starter
Take ten good-sized potatoes, and boil them in enough water to make up the yeast.
When nearly done, put them through a sifter, and add a tea-cupful of white sugar.
Then scald this with a pint of boiling water, from which the potatoes were taken.
Let them stand awhile, and then thin them with the rest, or as much of the milk-warm potato water as will make the potato quite thin.
Make the dough
Start to rise with a small cupful of yeast.
Add a tea-cupful of this yeast for three light pints of flour.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together434 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
-
Bread + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,383 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Bread and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,383 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
- Potatoes
- Starch and moisture that keep the bread soft and moist and help it hold its texture.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugars in the mixture, producing gas that makes the dough rise.
- Flour
- Provides gluten and starch that form the structure of the loaf.
- White sugar (in the method)
- Feeds the yeast so fermentation starts quickly and adds mild sweetness and browning.
The step that matters
Thinning the potato water to lukewarm before adding yeast. Yeast is killed by very hot liquid and works slowly when cold. The potato mixture should feel comfortably warm, like milk-warm, before the yeast goes in so the dough rises steadily.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Leekfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, 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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