Skip to main content
Bread

Quick Buttermilk Bread

A quick loaf made with buttermilk, flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Quick Buttermilk 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.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.

Mix and shape

  1. Stir in the buttermilk until combined.

  2. Shape the mixture into a loaf.

Bake

  1. Bake for 30 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).

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

What each ingredient does

All-purpose flour
Provides the main structure of the loaf as its proteins and starches set during baking.
Baking powder
Releases gas when moistened and heated, helping the loaf rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity of buttermilk to produce gas, adding lift and a tender crumb.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity, which reacts with the baking soda and tenderizes the crumb.

The step that matters

Stir in the buttermilk until combined. Overmixing once the liquid is added develops gluten and toughens the bread, while stopping as soon as the dry ingredients are moistened keeps the crumb tender.

“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.

You might also like

CornbreadCornbread345 recipesBread PuddingBread Pudding336 recipesMilk Bread RollsMilk Bread Rolls242 recipesPotato BreadPotato Bread124 recipes