Name: Reliable Yeast
Ingredients: 1 handful of loose hops; 1 quart of water; 1 pint of sifted flour; 1 cake of magic yeast; water (for dissolving yeast); sifted corn meal

Why it works: Flour and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,165 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Reliable Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Make the hop liquid

Boil the hops in 1 quart of water for 30 minutes.
Strain the hop water through a cloth onto 1 pint of sifted flour and mix thoroughly.

Make the dough

When cool, add the cake of yeast dissolved in a little water.
In the morning, stir in sifted corn meal until the mixture is the right consistency to knead.

Shape and dry

Shape into a roll the size of a rolling pin and cut into slices ⅓ inch thick.
Dry the slices in the air, turning twice a day until thoroughly dry.

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.

Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10 recipes

Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
Hops + corntop 37% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4 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

Hops: Adds bitter and aromatic flavour to the bread.
Sifted flour: Forms the main structure of the dough once mixed with liquid.
Yeast: Produces gas that makes the dough rise and gives it a fermented flavour.
Sifted corn meal: Stiffens the dough to the right consistency for kneading and shaping.

“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.