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Bread

Coffee Bread

A yeast bread with raisins, cinnamon, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Coffee Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Measure and sift the flour.

  2. Rub in the butter.

  3. Mix in the yeast.

  4. Add the warm milk.

  5. Knead for 15 minutes.

  6. Cover the dough and let it rise all day.

Add flavourings and rise overnight

  1. Add the beaten egg and knead thoroughly.

  2. Cover well and let rise overnight.

  3. Stir in the cinnamon and the raisins.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough using as little flour as possible.

  2. Let it rise to the top of the pan.

  3. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

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. Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the protein network that gives the bread its structure.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the crumb and enriches the flavour.
Egg
Adds protein for structure and richness to the dough.
Warm milk
Hydrates the flour and feeds the yeast while adding softness.
Raisins
Add sweetness and moisture pockets throughout the loaf.

The step that matters

Shape the dough using as little flour as possible. Extra flour absorbed during shaping dries the dough, making the loaf denser and tougher once baked.

“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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