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.
Prepare the dry mix
Mix the sesquicarbonate of soda and sugar with a small portion of the flour.
Sift this mixture into the remaining flour using a hair sieve.
Stir until well combined.
Make and bake the loaves
Dilute the muriatic acid with water to form a smooth dough.
Divide the dough into two loaves.
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 main structure of the dough once mixed with liquid.
- Sesquicarbonate of soda
- Releases carbon dioxide when acid is added, leavening the dough so it rises.
- Muriatic acid
- Reacts with the sesquicarbonate of soda to produce gas, and supplies the acidity for leavening.
The step that matters
Sifting the sesquicarbonate mixture into the flour. The leavening agent must be spread evenly through the flour, otherwise pockets of gas-producing reaction will form uneven spots and loaf rise. Pre-mixing with a small portion of flour helps it distribute before the remaining flour is added.
“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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