Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Bread Sponge and Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the sponge
Mix warm water, sifted flour, and yeast in a two-gallon stone jar.
Cover and set in a large tin pan to catch drippings.
Let rise overnight in a warm place.
Mix and knead the dough
Sift 6 quarts of flour into a pail.
Pour the sponge into a bowl, add salt, and gradually mix in the flour.
Knead for at least 20 minutes.
Shape the dough into one large loaf, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Knead again for 10 minutes.
Divide the dough for three loaves, knead each for 5 minutes, and place in a greased dripping pan.
Let rise for 5-10 minutes.
Bake in a properly heated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.
Make the sweet rolls
For the remaining dough, make a well and add sugar, lard, and eggs.
Mix and knead into a large loaf.
Let rise for 15 minutes.
Knead for 5 minutes.
Let rise again for 10 minutes.
Roll the dough to 1 inch thick.
Cut with a biscuit cutter.
Place in a dripping pan.
Let rise for 5 minutes.
Bake for 20 minutes.
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 + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + coffeetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,141 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and traps the gas produced by the yeast.
- Yeast
- Produces gas during fermentation, which makes the dough rise and become light.
- Warm water
- Hydrates the flour and gives the yeast a warm environment in which to become active.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and softens the texture of the enriched dough.
- Eggs
- Add richness and structure to the enriched dough and help it hold its shape.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and gentle browning to the enriched dough.
The step that matters
Kneading the dough thoroughly. Kneading develops gluten, the stretchy protein network that traps the yeast's gas. Skimping on it leaves a dense loaf that does not hold its rise well.
“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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