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Bread with Buttermilk

A yeasted bread made with a buttermilk sponge and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Sterrett, Laura C · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Buttermilk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Bread with Buttermilk

four loaves and forty biscuits

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Bring two quarts of buttermilk to a boil and pour into a crock that contains a scant tea-cup of sifted flour.

  2. Let the mixture stand until it cools sufficiently.

  3. Add half a cup of yeast and additional flour to make a thick batter.

  4. Stir the sponge thoroughly; the longer it is stirred, the whiter the bread will be.

Make the dough

  1. In the morning, sift flour into the bread pan.

  2. Pour the sponge into the center of the pan and stir in some of the flour.

  3. Let the dough stand until after breakfast.

  4. Mix and knead the dough for about half an hour; the longer the better.

  5. When the dough is light, shape it into loaves, kneading as little as possible.

Bake

  1. Bake the loaves; this recipe yields four loaves and forty biscuits.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

880Calories
25 gProtein
22 gFat
144 gCarbs

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
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Waternot 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 Sterrett, Laura C. 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. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Potato + teatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together136 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Buttermilk + potatotop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together153 recipes

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

  5. Flour + teatop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together449 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

Buttermilk
Its acidity activates the yeast sponge and gives the bread a tender crumb.
Yeast
Ferments the sponge, producing gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the dough its structure and holds the risen gas.

The step that matters

Kneading the shaped loaves. Kneading develops gluten for structure, but over-kneading after the dough has risen knocks out gas and toughens the crumb, so it should be kept to a minimum.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against buttermilk, flour, tea. 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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