Name: A Solimemne
Ingredients: 3 cups all-purpose flour; 3 ounces solid, well-washed yeast; 2-3 tablespoons warm cream or milk; ¼ ounce coarse sea salt; 1 ounce sugar; 4 large egg yolks; 4 ounces lukewarm butter; 2 tablespoons warm cream; 1 beaten egg for washing

Why it works: Cream and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 41,494 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

The recipe

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

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.

Make the starter

Take ¾ cup of flour and mix it with yeast and warm cream or milk to form a paste.
Cover and let rise near heat for 30 minutes.

Make the dough

In a large bowl, make a well in the remaining flour.
Add salt, sugar, egg yolks, butter, and warm cream. Mix until smooth.
Incorporate the risen paste into the flour mixture, kneading lightly until uniform in color.

Shape, bake and serve

Place the dough in a well-buttered cake mold and let it rise until doubled in size.
Brush the top with beaten egg.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour, avoiding over-browning.
Remove from the mold, slice, and pour melted butter over the slices.
Serve immediately.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together41,494 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + sugartop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together43,437 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together122,858 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together118,511 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Flour + eggtop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together104,138 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely 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

All-purpose flour: Provides the main structure that the dough builds around as it is kneaded and baked.
Yeast: Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Egg yolks: Add richness and tenderness, and help the crumb set and colour in the oven.
Butter: Adds fat for softness and flavour, and is poured over the slices at the end.
Sugar: Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning in the crust.

The step that matters

Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour, avoiding over-browning.. The loaf is large and dense, so the outside can darken well before the centre is fully baked. Watching colour and tenting if needed helps the inside cook through without a burnt crust.

“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.