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 ↓
White Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix the white flour and cornmeal or rice flour.
In a separate bowl, combine the milk, cream or sweet whey, and melted butter or coconut.
Gradually add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until a dough forms.
Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth.
Shape, rise and bake
Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan.
Let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake for 30-35 minutes 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- White flour
- Forms the main structure of the dough as gluten develops during kneading.
- Cornmeal or rice flour
- Adds a finer, more tender crumb and a mild flavor to the bread.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and helps bind the dough together.
- Cream or sweet whey
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the crumb.
- Butter or coconut
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes to browning.
The step that matters
Knead until smooth. Kneading develops the gluten network that traps gas and gives the loaf its structure. Under-kneaded dough bakes up dense and crumbly, while the rise depends on that structure holding.
“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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