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Dessert

White Loaf

A light, sweet loaf made with egg whites, sugars, butter, milk, flour, and baking powder.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the batter

  1. Cream the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy.

  2. Add the milk and mix well.

  3. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

  4. Gradually stir in the flour and baking powder until combined.

Bake

  1. Bake in the hot oven for 5 minutes, then open the door for 2–3 minutes before closing.

  2. Repeat the door opening process 3 times, then continue baking until done.

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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Egg whites
Whipped egg whites trap air, giving the loaf a light, airy structure as it sets.
Butter
Fat coats flour and sugar during creaming, adding tenderness and a rich flavor.
Powdered sugar
Sugar sweetens the loaf and helps it brown and stay moist.
Flour
Flour provides the protein and starch that build the loaf's main structure.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking, helping the loaf rise and become porous.
Milk
Adds liquid that hydrates the flour and keeps the crumb moist.

The step that matters

Opening the oven door during baking. Each time the door opens, the oven loses heat and the batter's temperature drops, which can slow rising and affect how the structure sets. Keep door openings brief and limited to what the recipe describes.

“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.

More white loaf recipes

Cake 12

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