Name: Hop Yeast
Ingredients: ½ cup loose hops or ⅛ ounce pressed hops; 1 quart boiling water; 1 cup flour; cold water (as needed); 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 2 tablespoons white sugar; ½ cup lively yeast

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 ↓

Hop Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Put hops in a granite-ware kettle and pour boiling water over them.
Simmer for about five minutes.
In a separate bowl, stir flour with a little cold water to form a smooth paste.
Strain the hop infusion through a cloth into the flour paste, stirring continuously.
Boil the mixture for a few minutes until it thickens, stirring constantly.
Transfer to a large bowl, add salt and sugar, and let cool to blood heat.
Stir in the lively yeast and mix well.
Cover with a napkin and let it stand in a warm place for 24 hours, beating back occasionally as it rises.
Once fermentation stops, transfer to a scalded jar, cover closely, and store in a cool place.

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 + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10 recipes

Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
Hops + sugartop 43% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).