Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Sally Lunn
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Cut up ¼ lb. butter and melt it in warm milk.
Dissolve ½ gill of yeast (or ½ a yeast cake) in a little warm water.
Stir the lukewarm milk mixture into 1 lb. flour, with 2 eggs beaten very lightly.
Add the dissolved yeast to the dough.
Add ½ teaspoon salt to the dough.
Rise and bake
Butter a mould carefully and pour the mixture into it.
Set the mould in a warm place near a fire to rise.
When the dough is perfectly light and risen to the top of a Turk’s head, bake in a moderate oven.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 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 + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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 (in the method)
- Forms the main structure of the dough once it is mixed with liquid.
- Eggs
- Add richness and structure to the dough and help it hold its rise.
- Yeast
- Produces gas as it ferments, lifting the dough so it rises and becomes light.
- Butter (in the method)
- Adds fat and richness, tenderizing the crumb and adding flavour.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise fully before baking. Yeast needs time and warmth to raise the dough. Baking before it is perfectly light and risen to the top of the mould leaves a dense loaf, because the gas bubbles have not expanded enough to give the bread its lift.
“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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