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Bread

Buttermilk Bread

A quick baked bread made with buttermilk, flour, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and buttermilk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,721 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Buttermilk Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

  2. Add the buttermilk and mix to form a light, elastic dough.

Shape

  1. Divide the dough into two portions and shape each into a round.

  2. Place the rounds on a greased baking sheet.

  3. Cut each round across twice.

Bake

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

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 + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Cream + buttermilktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together674 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the structure that holds the loaf together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Releases carbon dioxide when it meets the acid in buttermilk, lifting the dough.
Cream of tartar
Adds acid that helps the baking soda react and gives the rise a steadier result.
Buttermilk
Supplies moisture and acidity that activate the baking soda and soften the crumb.

The step that matters

Mix the buttermilk in just until the dough comes together. Once the liquid is added, the gluten in the flour starts to develop, and overmixing makes the bread tough. The baking soda and acid react quickly, so the dough should go into the oven promptly to keep the gas bubbles that make it rise.

“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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