Why it works: Potato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
White Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the potatoes
Boil the potatoes until they are hot enough to mash.
Mash the potatoes until smooth.
Place the mashed potatoes in a bread pan.
Make the sponge
Add warm water (or cooled milk), salt, yeast, and enough sifted flour to make a stiff batter.
Stir vigorously for 8-10 minutes.
Set the mixture in a warm place overnight.
In the morning, check that the sponge is light.
Shape and bake
Mix in enough flour to prevent sticking, keeping the dough soft. Knead thoroughly.
Let the dough rise until doubled in size.
Push the dough down in the pan.
Let the dough rise again until light.
Mold the dough into loaves.
Place the loaves in baking pans.
Bake in a moderately hot oven (350°F/175°C) until each loaf has risen to twice its original size.
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.
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour 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
- Potatoes
- Their starch and moisture make the crumb soft and help the loaf stay fresh.
- Yeast
- Feeds on sugars and produces gas, making the dough rise and become light.
- Flour
- Its proteins form gluten, giving the dough the structure to hold the risen gas.
- Warm water or milk
- Hydrates the flour and activates the yeast, and milk adds richness and browning.
The step that matters
Stir the stiff batter thoroughly. Vigorous stirring develops the gluten and fully wets the flour and yeast, so the sponge rises evenly overnight and the loaves hold their shape.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Potatothe original
- Sweet potatofits about as well
- Parsnipfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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