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 ↓
Raw Potato Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potato mixture
Grate the potatoes on a coarse grater.
Pour enough boiling water into the grated potatoes to make a clear starch.
To extend shelf life, boil a handful of hops in the water before adding it to the potatoes.
Add the sugar and coarse sea salt to the potato mixture.
Add yeast and rise
When lukewarm, add the yeast.
Keep the mixture warm until it rises.
Use ½ cup of this yeast to make 3 large 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.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Supply starch that feeds the yeast and gives the starter body.
- Sugar
- Provides food for the yeast, helping it become active and rise.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide that makes the mixture rise and leavens the bread.
The step that matters
Adding the yeast when lukewarm. Yeast is killed by very hot liquid, while cold slows its activity. Lukewarm liquid lets the yeast start working quickly and evenly.
“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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