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 ↓
Unrivaled Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
Make the starter
Boil two ounces of the best hops in four quarts of water for half an hour.
Strain the liquid and let the liquor cool to the consistency of new milk.
Put the cooled liquor in an earthen bowl and add half a cupful of salt and half a cupful of brown sugar.
Beat up one quart of flour with some of the liquor.
Mix all well together and let it stand until the third day after.
Add six medium-sized potatoes, boiled and mashed through a colander.
Let it stand a day, then strain and bottle; it is fit for use.
Stir frequently while it is making and keep it near a fire.
If care is taken to let it ferment well in the bowl, it may immediately be corked tightly.
Store and use
Keep it in a cool place.
Before using, shake the bottle up well.
It will keep in a cool place for two months, best the latter part of the time.
Use about the same quantity as other yeast.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 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 |
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Hop | not in our table | 0 |
| 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.
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + potatotop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10 recipes
Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
-
Hops + potatotop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hops
- Boiled in water to flavour the liquor and add bitterness that helps preserve the starter.
- Flour
- Provides starch that feeds the yeast and gives the starter body.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and nutrients that feed the fermenting yeast.
- Brown sugar
- Provides sugar that yeast consumes, driving fermentation and producing gas.
The step that matters
Let it ferment well in the bowl before corking. Yeast produces carbon dioxide as it ferments. If the starter is corked before fermentation is well advanced, gas can build pressure in the sealed bottle and the starter may not be active when used.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, flour, sugar):
- Mustardfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against hops, flour, sugar. 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.
More yeast starter recipes
You might also like
Deviled Oysters25 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.