Why it works: Potato and sugar 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 ↓
Potato Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
Make the potato mixture
Boil the hops in water.
Pour the boiling water over the grated potatoes and stir until it just comes to a boil.
Add the coarse sea salt and sugar, then let the mixture cool.
Ferment and store
Once cool, add the yeast to start fermentation.
When raised, transfer to a jar, cover closely, and store in a clean place.
Use 1 teacup of this yeast for about 4 loaves of bread.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Hops + potatotop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
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Hops + sugartop 43% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Grated potatoes
- Provide starch that feeds the fermentation and give the yeast body and moisture.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast, helping fermentation start and proceed.
- Hops
- Add bitterness and aroma, and help preserve the liquid.
- Yeast
- Drives fermentation, producing gas that makes the mixture rise.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool before adding the yeast. Yeast is killed by hot liquid, so the mixture must be cool enough to be safe for the yeast before fermentation can begin.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (hops, sugar):
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against hops, 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.
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