Name: Southern Rice Bread
Ingredients: 1 egg; 3-4 cups flour; 1-2 cups milk (or buttermilk/sour milk); ¼ cup boiled rice; 1 tablespoon butter; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1½ teaspoons baking powder (omit if using buttermilk/sour milk and use ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda)

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Southern Rice Bread

Ingredients

1 egg
3-4 cups flour
1-2 cups milk (or buttermilk/sour milk)
¼ cup boiled rice
1 tablespoon butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking powder (omit if using buttermilk/sour milk and use ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda)

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

Beat the egg well, then add the salt and melted butter.
Mix in the boiled rice until free from lumps.
Pour in the milk and sift in the flour, beating until smooth.
Stir in the baking powder.

Bake

Pour the mixture into a well-greased shallow pan.
Bake for 30 minutes.

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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,374 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,721 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Egg: Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the oven.
Flour: Forms the main structure of the bread once baked.
Milk: Provides moisture and hydrates the flour to form a smooth batter.
Boiled rice: Adds moisture and a soft, tender crumb to the bread.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter, helping the bread rise in the oven.

The step that matters

Beat the batter until smooth. Flour lumps left in the batter can bake into dry pockets, and the rice should be fully broken up so the crumb bakes evenly. Adding the baking powder after the batter is mixed helps it rise well in the oven.

“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.

More rice bread recipes

Liberian 3 See all 122 →

Rice Fritters84 recipes

Steamed Rice48 recipes

Rice Griddle Cakes28 recipes

Rice and Cheese Casserole23 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Southern Rice Bread