Name: Almond Bread
Ingredients: 4 oz almond meal; 2 tablespoons gluten meal; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 oz butter; 2 eggs; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Almond and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,245 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Almond Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix almond meal, gluten meal, salt, and baking powder.
Add the softened butter and mix well.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and then add them to the mixture, stirring until combined.

Bake

Pour the batter into a shallow tin and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

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.

Almond + buttertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,245 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Almond + eggtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,645 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Almond meal: Provides the bulk and nutty flavour of the bread, with fat that keeps it moist.
Gluten meal: Adds structure so the bread holds together rather than crumbling.
Baking powder: Releases gas during baking so the bread rises and becomes lighter.
Eggs: Bind the batter and add structure and moisture as they set in the oven.
Butter: Adds fat for richness, tenderness and flavour.