Name: Bread
Ingredients: ½ pint lukewarm water; 1 teacup liquid yeast; 1 pint flour (measured before sifting); ½ cup milk (or water with a little butter); 1 tablespoon lime-water; 1½ pints flour for kneading

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

½ pint lukewarm water
1 teacup liquid yeast
1 pint flour (measured before sifting)
½ cup milk (or water with a little butter)
1 tablespoon lime-water
1½ pints flour for kneading

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

Set your sponge overnight with lukewarm water, yeast, and flour.

Mix and shape

In the morning, warm the milk (or water with butter).
Stir the warmed milk (or water with butter) into the sponge.
Stir in the lime-water and additional flour.
Knead the mixture into two loaves.
Place the loaves in pans to rise.

Bake

Bake the loaves in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + limetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,381 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + limetop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together700 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Yeast: Ferments the sponge, producing gas that makes the bread rise.
Flour: Provides the structure that gives the bread its body once kneaded.
Milk: Adds moisture, softness and a little sweetness to the dough.
Lime-water: Adds a small alkaline element that affects the dough's texture and browning.