Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Yeast Bread
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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dough
In a large bowl, combine 2 cups of wheat or rye flour with 1 cup of your chosen substitute flour.
In a separate bowl, dissolve 1 packet of yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar substitute in 1 cup of warm water or milk. Let it sit until frothy.
Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture along with 1 teaspoon of salt.
Mix until a dough forms, then knead on a floured surface for about 10 minutes until smooth.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Shape and bake
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan.
Let it rise again for about 30 minutes, then bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
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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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugar substitutetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together60 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar substitute + milktop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together54 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Wheat or rye flour
- Provides the main structure through gluten, which traps gas and holds the loaf together.
- Substitute flour
- Adds bulk and flavor, though it has little gluten, so it softens the crumb and weakens structure.
- Active dry yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, which makes the dough rise and gives the loaf an airy texture.
- Warm water or milk
- Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and activates the yeast.
The step that matters
Knead until smooth. Kneading develops the gluten network that traps the gas from the yeast. Flours with less gluten, such as the substitute flour here, make this network weaker, so the dough needs careful handling to rise well.
“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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