Why it works: Hazelnut and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 464 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Nut Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the dough
Add the softened yeast cake to the evaporated cream, lukewarm water, molasses, salt, and hazelnuts.
Stir in the flours until combined; you may need a little more flour.
Knead the dough until elastic.
Let the dough rise in a warm place until light.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into loaves and let rise again until light.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Hazelnut + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together464 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Hazelnut + wheattop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together25 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cream + hazelnuttop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together332 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole wheat flour
- Provides the structure and gluten network that traps gas, giving the loaves their body.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten strength so the dough stretches and holds its shape during rising.
- Yeast cake
- Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, which makes the dough rise and turn light.
- Molasses
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness, a mild flavor, and some browning in the crust.
- Evaporated cream
- Adds fat and milk solids that soften the crumb and add richness and browning.
- Hazelnuts
- Add fat, crunch, and a toasty nutty aroma that stands out within the soft crumb.
The step that matters
Knead the dough until elastic. Kneading develops the gluten network that traps the gas from the yeast. Under-kneaded dough rises poorly and bakes up dense, while the stretch test shows when it is ready.
Swap the hazelnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, molasses, wheat, flour):
- Almondfits better
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Flaxseedfits about as well
- Hazelnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, molasses, wheat, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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