Why it works: Potato and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Bread with Compressed Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the sponge
Combine potato water and scalded sweet milk in a bowl.
Add salt, lard, and sugar to the milk mixture.
Dissolve one cake of compressed yeast in lukewarm water and stir into the mixture.
Add enough flour to create a soft sponge.
If the weather is warm, work in enough flour to make a biscuit dough and let rise overnight.
If it's winter, let the sponge rise overnight, then add a pinch of baking soda dissolved in water.
Shape and bake
Mix well into the batter, then add enough flour to form a soft dough and knead twice.
Shape into loaves and let rise for 20 minutes.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
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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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,355 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Yeast (in the method)
- Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise and turn light.
- Flour
- Forms the gluten structure that traps gas and gives the loaf its shape.
- Potato water
- Adds moisture and starch that help the dough stay soft and tender.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture, softness and browning from milk sugars in the crust.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps the loaf soft.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning in the crust.
The step that matters
Let the sponge rise overnight. Yeast needs time to ferment the sponge fully; rising too briefly leaves a dense loaf with weak flavour and poor lift. Winter sponges are slower, which is why the recipe adds baking soda.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Sweet potatofits better
- Beetrootfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, 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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