Why it works: Flour and rye match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Sift together the graham flour, rye flour, cornmeal, baking soda, and salt.
Add the molasses and sour milk to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Steam and serve
Pour the batter into a lard pail or baking powder cans.
Steam for 2 hours.
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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Flour + ryetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rye + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together918 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to produce gas, lifting the batter.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tang and moisture to the batter.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and gives the bread its characteristic flavor.
- Graham flour
- Provides the structure of the bread along with its coarse, nutty texture.
- Rye flour
- Adds earthy flavor and a dense, moist crumb with gluten-weak structure.
- Cornmeal
- Contributes a grainy texture and helps give the bread body.
The step that matters
Mix the batter well. The baking soda must be fully distributed and react with the acidic sour milk and molasses; uneven mixing leaves pockets of soda that taste bitter and uneven rising.
“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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