Why it works: Flour and sugar 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 ↓
Rusk or Sweet Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Combine one pint flour, one pint white sugar, one tea-cup melted lard, one and one-half pints water, and two kitchen-spoonfuls yeast to make a batter.
Set the batter to rise at night.
Make the dough
In the morning, work two beaten eggs into the sponge and add three pints of flour.
Set the dough to rise again.
When the dough is light, form into rolls and let rise again.
Bake and finish
When the dough is very light, bake in a slow oven.
Spread on the rolls when warm white of eggs and sifted cinnamon.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| 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.
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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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + teatop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together449 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + teatop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,204 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 gluten structure that holds the dough and the rolls together.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help bind the dough, giving structure to the rolls.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast during rising and adds sweetness and browning.
- Lard
- Adds fat that softens the crumb and gives a tender texture.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour so the gluten can develop into a dough.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise until very light before baking. Yeast gas trapped in the gluten network creates the airy crumb. Underproofed rolls bake up dense, while overproofed dough loses its structure and can collapse in the oven.
“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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