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 ↓
Potato Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
Make the yeast
Combine mashed potatoes, flour, and water in a bowl.
Stir in hop yeast and salt.
Cover and let the mixture rise overnight.
Store
Store the yeast in a cool place to prevent souring.
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.
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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
What each ingredient does
- Mashed potatoes
- Supply starch and moisture that feed the fermentation and give the mixture body.
- Flour
- Provides starch for the yeast to work on and gives the mixture structure.
- Hop yeast
- Introduces the microorganisms that ferment the mixture and make it rise.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour and potatoes so the mixture forms a loose batter.
The step that matters
Store the yeast in a cool place. Warm conditions speed up fermentation past the point of rising and encourage souring from unwanted bacteria, so cool storage keeps the yeast usable.
“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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