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Dessert

Hard Yeast

A yeast-based cake made from hops, water, wheat or rye meal, Indian meal, and flour, then dried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Hard Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Boil hops in water until only 2 quarts remain.

  2. Strain and stir in wheat or rye meal until thick as batter.

  3. When milk-warm, add yeast and let it stand for about 3 hours until very light.

Shape and dry

  1. Work in sifted Indian meal until stiff dough forms.

  2. Roll out on a floured board and cut into oblong cakes, 3 inches by 2, and ½ inch thick.

  3. Lay cakes on a floured board, prick with a fork, and place in a dry, clean area with good air circulation.

  4. Turn cakes daily; they will dry in about 2 weeks unless the weather is damp.

  5. Once dry, store in a coarse cotton bag in a cool, dry place.

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. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together10 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

  3. Hops + wheattop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Produces gas that makes the batter light and airy before shaping.
Wheat or rye meal
Provides starch and protein that thicken the liquid and build the dough's structure.
Indian meal
Stiffens the dough so it can be rolled and cut into cakes.
Hops
Adds a bitter, aromatic flavour to the liquid.

The step that matters

Let the sponge rise until very light. Yeast needs time at milk-warm temperature to produce gas; if the sponge is under-risen, the cakes will be dense and heavy rather than light.

“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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