Why it works: Rye and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Rye and Indian Bread
Ingredients
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.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine the molasses, sour milk, and boiling water.
Stir in the corn meal, graham flour, rye flour, white wheat flour, baking soda, and salt until well mixed.
Pour the mixture into a greased steaming pan.
Steam and bake
Steam for 3 hours.
After steaming, bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Rye + wheattop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together404 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Corn + wheattop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together465 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Corn + ryetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together182 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Flour + ryetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 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
- Sugar house molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich flavour to the bread.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the bread rises.
- Corn meal
- Gives the bread a coarse, grainy texture.
- Rye flour
- Adds earthy flavour and a dense, moist crumb.
- Graham flour
- Contributes bran and nutty flavour and a heartier texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
The step that matters
Steaming before baking. The bread relies on the baking soda and sour milk reaction for rise, and the long steam sets the structure before the dry heat of the oven browns and firms the crust. Skipping or shortening the steam can leave a dense, underdeveloped loaf.
“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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