Name: Wheat and White Potato Bread
Ingredients: 1 pint new milk; 1 pint boiling water; 6 good-sized potatoes, well boiled and mashed; 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt; 1 tablespoon sugar; Flour, enough to make a stiff batter

Why it works: Milk and potato 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 ↓

Wheat and White Potato Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

1 pint new milk
1 pint boiling water
6 good-sized potatoes, well boiled and mashed
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Flour, enough to make a stiff batter

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 batter

Mix the new milk and boiling water with the mashed potatoes.
Stir in the coarse sea salt, sugar, and enough flour to make a stiff batter.

First rise and knead

Set the mixture in a warm place to rise until it doubles in size.
Stir in more flour and knead it slightly.

Shape, rise and bake

Divide the dough into three loaves and place them in deep tins.
Let the loaves rise again until doubled in size.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,355 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).