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Spiced Raisin Loaf

A yeast loaf with raisins, brown sugar, butter, and spices baked at 350°F for one hour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Spiced Raisin Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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.

Prepare the dough

  1. In a bowl, combine warm milk and yeast; let it stand in a warm place until light.

  2. Add butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, eggs, and raisins; mix well.

  3. Gradually add bread flour until the dough is smooth and soft.

  4. Knead the dough well and place it in a warm place to rise until light.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into a loaf and let it rise again until it reaches the top of the pan.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for one hour.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 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

Yeast
Ferments the dough so it rises and becomes light and airy.
Eggs
Add structure and richness, helping the loaf hold its shape and crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a soft crumb.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown.
Raisins
Add sweetness and moisture, with chewy pockets throughout the loaf.
Bread flour
Builds gluten structure that traps gas and gives the loaf its framework.

The step that matters

Letting the loaf rise a second time to the top of the pan. Under-proofing leaves a dense loaf, while over-proofing can cause it to collapse or fall during baking. The dough should be light and reach the pan's top before it goes into the oven.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, butter, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, egg. 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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