Why it works: Potato and flour 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 ↓
Potato Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sponge
Boil and mash the potatoes very fine.
Add the boiling water and stir in flour until you have a stiff batter.
When the mixture is lukewarm, add the yeast and set it in a warm place.
Knead and rise
The next morning, add salt and knead in more flour until very stiff.
Set the dough in a warm place to rise.
Knead once more, adding very little flour.
Let it rise again, then place in pans, filling them halfway.
Bake
When risen to the top of the pans, bake 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.
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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Potato + flourtop 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
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Their starch and moisture make the bread soft and help it hold its shape.
- Flour
- Provides the gluten structure that traps gas and gives the dough its body.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, making the dough rise and become airy.
- Coarse sea salt
- Controls yeast activity and strengthens gluten, giving the bread flavour and structure.
The step that matters
Knead until very stiff, then rise until risen to the top of the pans. Too much added flour or under-proofing leaves the loaf dense, while the dough needs enough gluten development and gas to rise evenly before baking.
“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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