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Bread

French Bread

A yeasted loaf made with water, milk, salt, ale yeast, butter, eggs, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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French Bread

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 ↓

French Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the yeast

  1. Soak the ale yeast in a gallon of water overnight, then pour off the water.

Make the dough

  1. Warm the water and milk, then add salt.

  2. Stir the yeast into the milk and water mixture.

  3. Melt the butter in the mixture, then add the beaten eggs.

  4. Mix in the flour until combined, keeping the dough stiffer in winter.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into rolls and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

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.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
Ale yeast
Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes the bread rise.
Eggs
Add protein and richness, helping bind the dough and add tenderness.
Butter
Adds fat, softening the crumb and contributing flavor and tenderness.
Milk
Adds moisture, sugars and protein, promoting browning and a softer crumb.

The step that matters

Mix in the flour until combined, keeping the dough stiffer in winter.. Flour absorbs different amounts of liquid depending on temperature and humidity, and the dough's consistency controls how it rises and holds its shape. Too wet a dough spreads and yields a dense or flat loaf, so adjusting flour by season matters.

“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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