Skip to main content
Main

To Make Good Yeast

A method for making yeast by boiling potatoes, mashing them, adding sugar and yeast, and allowing it to rise for three hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.) · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 30% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

To Make Good Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Boil three mealy potatoes in 1 quart of water.

  2. When soft, peel and mash them finely.

  3. Add 1 pint of the water in which the potatoes were boiled, then mix in 3 tablespoons brown sugar.

  4. Add 1 teacup of yeast to raise it.

  5. Let it sit for 3 hours until fit for use.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

665Calories
17 gProtein
1 gFat
145 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Sugar + potatotop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,032 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mealy potatoes
Their mashed starch and liquid form the body of the starter that the yeast feeds on.
Brown sugar
Provides sweetness and a quick food source that keeps the yeast active.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars and starches, producing gas that makes the starter rise and become bubbly.

The step that matters

Let it sit for 3 hours until fit for use. Yeast needs time to multiply and ferment before the starter is active. Adding yeast to liquid that is too hot can kill it, so the mixture should be cooled before the yeast goes in.

“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.

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipesPotato ChipsPotato Chips53 recipesSweet Potato CroquettesSweet Potato Croquettes53 recipes