Why it works: Potato and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,355 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Boil and mash the potatoes, then strain them through a colander into a warm earthen dish.
Add 1 quart of warm water, 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt, and enough flour to make a thick batter.
Stir in 1 teacup of homemade yeast thoroughly, cover, and set in a warm place to rise.
Once the sponge is light and full of air bubbles, gradually mix in enough flour to make a stiff dough.
Knead the dough thoroughly, cover with a cloth, and set in a warm place to rise again.
When the dough is elastic to the touch, shape it into loaves, knead again, and let it rise once more.
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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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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