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 ↓
Modern Cookery
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.
Mix the dough
Mix the sesquicarbonate of soda with the sugar and flour.
Dilute the muriatic acid with enough water to form a dough.
Stir the mixture into a smooth mass.
Divide the dough into two loaves.
Bake
Place the loaves in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) and bake thoroughly.
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure that holds the loaves together as they bake.
- Sesquicarbonate of soda
- Alkaline leavener that reacts with the acid to release gas and lift the loaf.
- Muriatic acid
- Acid that reacts with the alkaline soda to produce gas for rising.
- Sugar
- Adds mild sweetness and helps the crust brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture into a smooth mass. The acid and soda begin releasing gas as soon as they meet, so the dough should be stirred evenly and shaped into loaves and placed in the oven without delay to keep the rise.
“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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