Name: Bread of Whole Wheat Flour
Ingredients: white soft sponge (enough for desired number of loaves); 2 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons sugar; whole wheat flour (enough to knead)

Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Bread of Whole Wheat Flour

Ingredients

white soft sponge (enough for desired number of loaves)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons sugar
whole wheat flour (enough to knead)

Directions

Combine the white soft sponge with butter and sugar.
Add whole wheat flour until the dough is kneadable.
Allow the dough to rise in the pan.
Bake until golden brown.

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.

Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,002 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

White soft sponge: Provides the yeasted base and gives the dough its rise and lightness.
Butter: Adds fat for a softer crumb and richer flavour.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning in the crust.
Whole wheat flour: Adds structure and kneadability, with a nutty flavour and denser texture than white flour.

“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.