Name: White Bread Quick Method
Ingredients: 2 cakes Fleischmann's yeast; 3 ½ cups sifted flour (equal to 3 pounds unsifted flour); 1 quart lukewarm water; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 tablespoon lard or butter

Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

White Bread Quick Method

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

2 cakes Fleischmann's yeast
3 ½ cups sifted flour (equal to 3 pounds unsifted flour)
1 quart lukewarm water
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon lard or butter

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

Dissolve the yeast in half of the lukewarm water.
In the other half, dissolve the salt and sugar.
Mix the yeast water with the salt and sugar water, then gradually stir in 3 ½ cups of flour.
Work in the lard or butter to form a moderately stiff dough.
Knead well for 10 to 15 minutes.

Rise, shape and bake

Set aside in a warm place, covered, to rise until light, about 2 to 2.5 hours.
When light, shape into loaves and place in well-greased pans.
Let rise again for 45 minutes.
Bake in a hot oven at 400 °F (200 °C) for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

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.

Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter 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 loaf its structure and chew.
Yeast: Ferments sugars to produce carbon dioxide, which makes the dough rise.
Lukewarm water: Hydrates the flour and activates the yeast while forming the dough.
Lard or butter: Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast and contributes to browning of the crust.