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Family Wheat Bread

A wheat bread made with yeast, salt, and water, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Family Wheat Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. In a large bowl, combine 3 pounds of flour with enough cold or warm water to make a thick batter.

  2. Stir in ½ pint of yeast and cover the bowl.

  3. Let it rise for 10 to 12 hours.

Shape and bake

  1. After rising, add the remaining 3 pounds of flour and a small handful of salt. Mix well.

  2. Knead the dough until it no longer sticks to your hands.

  3. Shape the dough into loaves.

  4. Let them rise again.

  5. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake the loaves for about 1 hour, or longer for larger loaves.

  6. To check if done, insert a clean skewer into the center of a loaf; it should come out clean.

  7. Once baked, rub a bit of butter on the tops of the loaves and cool them standing on edge, covered with a clean towel.

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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

  3. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

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

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Wheat flour
Provides the gluten network that gives the bread its structure and chew.
Yeast
Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes the loaves rise and become airy.
Water
Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and lets the yeast become active.
Salt
Controls yeast activity and strengthens the gluten, improving flavor and texture.

The step that matters

Checking the loaves for doneness. A loaf can look browned outside but still be doughy inside. A clean skewer in the center confirms the interior has fully set and baked through.

“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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