Why it works: Flour and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,355 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Bread and Breakfast Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
At night, prepare the sponge by mixing flour with warm water and let it rise until light.
Mash a few white mealy potatoes and add them to the sponge for sweetness.
Mix the sponge with more flour to create a stiff batter; if it separates, add more flour.
Set the sponge in a warm place (around 75°F) to rise, avoiding chilling or overheating.
Once the sponge is light and honeycomb-like, mix in more flour to form a soft dough.
Place the dough in a bread pan and cover it with a woolen blanket to keep warm.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown.
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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Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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