Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Bread and Butter Souffle
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Assemble
Spread butter on both slices of bread.
Place one slice in the bottom of a pie dish.
Spread jam on the first slice.
Top with the second slice of bread.
Make the custard
In a bowl, combine milk, powdered sugar, and beaten eggs.
Pour the mixture over the bread and butter.
Bake and serve
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the pudding rises like a souffle.
Serve immediately while hot.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard and help the pudding rise and hold its airy structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid custard that soaks the bread and sets during baking.
- Bread
- Soaks up the custard and forms the body of the pudding.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the milk and egg mixture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the bread brown lightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Serve immediately while hot. A baked egg custard rises with trapped steam and then falls as it cools, so it loses its soufflé-like lift if left to sit.
“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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