Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Bread
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 the dough
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl and keep it warm.
Make a well in the center.
Pour in the yeast mixed with warm water and sugar.
Add the warmed milk and lard.
Cover the mixture with flour.
Let it rise for 10 to 15 minutes.
Knead the dough well with warm water until moderately light.
Cover.
Let it rise for an hour.
Shape and bake
Grease the loaf tins.
Weigh out 2 lbs. of dough for each loaf.
Let the loaves rise slightly in the tins.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C).
Change the position of the loaves halfway through baking.
When done, the loaves should weigh 2 ozs. lighter.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Flour
- Forms the gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, and softens the crumb and crust.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and helps the dough ferment and brown lightly.
The step that matters
Knead until moderately light. Kneading develops the gluten that traps the gas yeast produces. Kneading too little leaves a dense loaf, while the dough must still be soft enough to stretch without tearing.
“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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