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Bread

First Prize Bread

A yeast‑leavened loaf made with flour, water, salt, milk‑whey, and mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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 ↓

First Prize Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. At night, mix warm water and salt, stir in flour to make a paste, dissolve and add one cake of Breadmaker’s Yeast, set in a warm place, and let rise until morning.

  2. Boil three or four medium potatoes at noon. Mash finely.

  3. In a crock, combine flour and potato water to make a thin batter. Add one and a half cakes of Breadmaker’s Yeast. Let rise until well risen.

Make the dough

  1. In the evening, take half the warm water intended for the batch, add flour to make a batter, blend with fermented yeast, beat with a wooden spoon for twenty minutes.

  2. In the morning, dissolve about half a cupful of salt in the remaining warm water, add to the batter, beat and knead for about an hour, adding flour quickly.

  3. In the morning, take milk‑whey, hollow out a space in the flour, pour in while warm, mix in sufficient flour to make a stiff paste, then mix in the risen sponge. Let stand until it rises. Knead for 25 minutes, adding enough flour to make it stiff enough for loaves, then let rise again.

Shape and bake

  1. Knead dough until stiff enough for loaves, shape into loaves, place in pans, let rise until light.

  2. Knead into loaves and put into dishes. Let rise again until ready to bake.

  3. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about one hour and ten minutes.

  4. Bake moderately for one hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

616Calories
17 gProtein
1 gFat
132 gCarbs

Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Hopnot in our table0
Cakenot 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.

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. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 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

Flour (in the method)
Forms the gluten structure that traps gas and gives the loaves their crumb.
Breadmaker's yeast
Produces carbon dioxide during fermentation, making the dough rise and become light.
Potatoes
Their starch and water add moisture and help the loaves stay soft.
Milk-whey (in the method)
Adds moisture and some sugars that contribute to browning and flavour.

The step that matters

Kneading the dough until stiff. Kneading develops gluten so the dough can hold gas. Adding flour too quickly can make it too stiff or dense, while too little kneading leaves a weak structure that rises poorly.

“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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