Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. 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
Warm a large basin and sieve the flour into it.
Make a well in the center and a ridge around the top; sprinkle the salt on the ridge.
Cream the yeast and sugar together until liquid, then mix with the tepid water.
Pour the mixture into the middle of the flour, work in a little flour, and sprinkle some on top.
Cover and place in a warm place to rise for 20 minutes.
Work in all the flour to form a stiff dough and knead well on a pastry board for about 5 minutes.
Rise, shape and bake
Flour the basin, return the dough, cut a cross on top, cover, and set in a warm place for 1¼ hours or until doubled in size.
Slightly grease and flour a bread tin, knead the dough a little, shape it lightly, and place it in the tin.
Prick the top with a fork and let it prove in a warm place for about 30 minutes.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour.
To test if the loaf is done, tap the bottom; if it sounds hollow, it is baked.
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 + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Household flour
- Forms the gluten network that traps gas and gives the bread its structure.
- German yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, making the dough rise.
- Tepid water
- Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and activates the yeast.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast, speeding fermentation and helping browning in the crust.
The step that matters
Proving until doubled. The dough must rise until doubled before baking. Under-proofed dough bakes dense, while over-proofed dough collapses, because gas production and gluten strength must be balanced.
“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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