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White Bread

A loaf of white bread made with potato water, flour, yeast, sugar, salt, shortening, and water, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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White Bread

Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓

White Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. Dissolve a piece of yeast in warm potato water.

  2. Add salt and sugar, then stir in enough flour to make a stiff batter.

  3. Let the batter rise overnight.

Make the dough

  1. In the morning, sift flour into a bowl.

  2. Combine warm water with the yeast and enough flour to make a thick batter.

  3. Let the batter rise until light.

  4. Add salt and shortening, then enough flour to form a very stiff dough.

  5. Knead the dough for ten minutes.

Shape and bake

  1. When it has nearly doubled in size, form it into five loaves.

  2. Let the loaves rise until light.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F) for about 1 hour and 15 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  2. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Potato + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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 gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
Yeast (in the method)
Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Potato water
Supplies moisture and nutrients that feed the yeast during fermentation.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and contributes to browning in the crust.

The step that matters

Let the batter rise until light. The dough must ferment long enough to trap enough carbon dioxide for a light crumb, but over-proofing weakens the gluten and can make the loaves collapse in the oven.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour):

  1. Arrowrootfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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