Why it works: Coffee and tea work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 259 recipes. Both carry 2-methyl-3-(methyldithio)furan, which smells thiamin, meat. The science ↓
Bread Sponge and Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the sponge
Mix warm water, sifted flour, and yeast in a two-gallon stone jar.
Cover and set in a large tin pan to catch drippings.
Let rise overnight in a warm place.
Make the dough
Sift 6 quarts of flour into a pail.
Pour the sponge into a bread pan or bowl, add salt, and gradually mix in the flour.
Knead for at least 20 minutes.
Shape the dough into one large loaf, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Knead thoroughly for 10 minutes.
Divide the dough for three loaves, knead each for 5 minutes, and place in a greased dripping pan.
Let rise for 5-10 minutes.
Bake in a properly heated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes.
Make the enriched loaf
For the remaining dough, make a well in the center, add sugar, lard, and eggs.
Mix thoroughly and knead into one large loaf.
Let rise for 15 minutes.
Knead for 5 minutes.
Let rise again for 10 minutes until light.
Roll the dough to about 1 inch thick, cut with a biscuit cutter, and place in a greased dripping pan.
Let rise for 5 minutes.
Bake for 20 minutes.
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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Coffee + teatop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methyl-3-(methyldithio)furan (thiamin, meat).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,344 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 bread its structure and chew.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugars in the sponge, producing gas that makes the dough rise.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the enriched loaf.
- Eggs
- Add richness and structure to the enriched dough, helping it hold its shape.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds a touch of sweetness and browning to the enriched loaf.
The step that matters
Kneading the dough thoroughly. Kneading develops the gluten network that traps the gas from the yeast. Too little kneading leaves a weak, dense crumb that does not rise well.
“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.
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