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Bread

Russian Bread

A sweet yeast bread with raisins and cinnamon, baked into braided loaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Russian Bread

2 loaves

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the dough

  1. Dissolve the yeast in the scalded milk.

  2. Add 1½ cups of flour and mix until smooth; let stand until light.

  3. Add eggs, sugar, butter, raisins, salt, remaining flour, and cinnamon; mix to a stiff dough and knead thoroughly.

  4. Let the dough stand until it doubles in size.

Shape and bake

  1. Divide the dough into 2 equal parts for 2 loaves.

  2. Cut each part into 3 equal pieces and roll into 12-inch long strips, tapering to a point at each end.

  3. Press the ends together, braid the strips, and place in buttered baking sheets.

  4. Cover and let stand until light.

  5. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.

  6. If preferred, ice with powdered sugar mixed with a few drops of hot water when cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the stiff dough its structure and chew.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars in the dough, producing gas that makes the loaves rise and go light.
Eggs
Add richness, structure and colour to the crumb as they set during baking.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning to the crust.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and gives a softer texture.
Milk
Provides moisture and proteins that help the dough hold its structure and brown lightly.

The step that matters

Let the dough stand until it doubles in size. The yeast needs enough time to produce gas for full rising. Under-proofed dough bakes dense, while the dough must still be shaped and baked before it collapses.

“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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