Name: Stale Bread Griddle Cakes
Ingredients: 2 cups milk; about 2 cups flour; 1 egg; 2 tablespoons melted butter; 1 cup stale bread crumbs; 2 teaspoons baking powder; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Stale Bread Griddle Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

Rub the stale bread into fine crumbs.
Soak the crumbs in milk for 15 minutes.
Combine the soaked bread crumbs, egg, melted butter, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
Gradually add flour until the batter reaches a pourable consistency.

Cook the cakes

Heat a griddle over medium heat.
Pour batter to form cakes.
Cook until bubbles form on the surface.
Flip and cook until golden brown.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

Flour: Provides the main structure once the batter sets on the griddle.
Egg: Binds the batter and helps the cakes hold together while cooking.
Baking powder: Releases gas that lifts the cakes so they rise and stay tender.
Stale bread crumbs: Absorb the milk and add body and a soft, tender crumb.
Milk: Hydrates the crumbs and flour, giving the batter its moisture.
Melted butter: Adds richness and helps the cakes brown on the griddle.

The step that matters

Flip and cook until golden brown. Flip only once bubbles have formed and the underside is set, so the cakes keep their shape. Flipping too early tears them, while cooking too long on one side dries the centre.

“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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Stale Bread Griddle Cakes