Name: Art of Making Bread with Leaven, Instead of Yeast
Ingredients: 2 large spoonfuls of hops; 1 gallon of water; as much wheat bran as can be moistened; 4 to 5 pounds of leaven; 7 to 8 quarts of warm water; flour

Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Art of Making Bread with Leaven, Instead of Yeast

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the hops in water.
Pour the hot water over the wheat bran until moistened.
Add the leaven and mix well when the mixture is barely warm.
Let the mixture sit in a warm place for 24 hours.
Divide the mixture into small pieces, about the size of eggs or small oranges.
Place the pieces on a board in dry air, avoiding direct sunlight.
Once dry, store them for up to 6 months.
To bake, dissolve 6 handfuls of the dried pieces in warm water.
Pour the mixture through a sieve into a kneading trough, adding 3 more quarts of warm water.
Mix the liquid with enough flour to form a lump the size of a large loaf.

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.

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.

Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Hops + flourtop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together10 recipes

Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
Hops + wheattop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).