Name: Potato Bread
Ingredients: 6 good-sized potatoes, boiled and well mashed; 1 pint potato water (or more); 1 cup yeast; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon sugar; 2 tablespoons lard (size of an egg); lukewarm water (as needed to make 6 loaves)

Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Potato Bread

Ingredients

6 good-sized potatoes, boiled and well mashed
1 pint potato water (or more)
1 cup yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons lard (size of an egg)
lukewarm water (as needed to make 6 loaves)

Directions

In a bowl, combine the mashed potatoes and potato water.
Add the yeast and set the mixture in a warm place overnight to create a sponge.
In the morning, knead the sponge and add salt, sugar, lard, and enough lukewarm water to form a dough.
Continue kneading until smooth, then shape into 6 loaves.

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.

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.

Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,978 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,032 recipes

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