Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Hop-eising 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.
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix lard, sugar, salt, and flour. Stir in boiling water, beating thoroughly.
Add cold water; if cool enough, add yeast and enough flour to make a thick batter.
Transfer to a pan, sprinkle flour on top, and cover with a clean cloth.
Let it rise overnight in a warm place.
Knead and bake
Knead before breakfast, then knead again when very light for the bread pan. Use as little flour as possible while kneading.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps the bread soft.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning.
- Flour
- Provides the gluten structure that traps gas and holds the loaf together.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide during the overnight rise, leavening the dough.
The step that matters
Use as little flour as possible while kneading. Extra flour worked into the dough makes it dense and dry, and it can toughen the crumb. Kneading only enough to shape the dough keeps the loaf light and moist.
“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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