Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Salt Rising Bread
Ingredients
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 starter
Pour boiling sweet milk over cornmeal and stir to a smooth paste.
Cover and let sit overnight in a warm place.
Heat ½ cup of sweet milk and cool it to a warm temperature. Mix with 1 cup of warm water.
Stir in salt, baking soda, sugar, the cornmeal mixture, and enough flour to make a smooth batter.
Let it sit in warm water until it foams up.
Make the sponge
In a deep bowl, combine ½ cup of sweet milk, 1 pint of warm water, the foamed mixture, and enough flour to create a stiff batter.
Cover and let rise until it breaks through the surface.
Shape and bake
Sift flour onto a clean surface. Pour out the sponge. Knead it into a soft mass.
Divide into three loaves and place in greased pans, allowing space for rising.
Grease the tops of the loaves with butter.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 40 minutes. Cool in a cool place.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Cornmeal
- Forms the cooked base of the starter, adding body and a coarse texture to the crumb.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and richness, and its sugars help the loaf brown lightly in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidic fermentation in the starter to lighten the dough and help it rise.
- Sugar
- Feeds the fermentation and adds mild sweetness and browning to the crust.
- Flour
- Builds the gluten structure that traps gas and gives the loaf its shape and chew.
The step that matters
Letting the sponge rise until it breaks through the surface. The rise depends on live fermentation. Too short a rise leaves the loaf dense, while the dough needs enough time in warmth for the bubbles to form and lift the batter.
“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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