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Bread

Entire Wheat Bread

A yeast‑leavened whole wheat loaf made with molasses, sugar, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Entire Wheat Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the dough

  1. In a large bowl, stir together the water, molasses, butter, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

  2. Add 1 quart of the flour and mix well.

  3. Dissolve the yeast cake in a little water and add it to the mixture.

  4. Stir in the remaining flour until the dough drops from the spoon.

Rise and bake

  1. Cover and let the dough stand overnight.

  2. In the morning, stir the dough down and place it in tins.

  3. Let it rise, then bake for 1½ hours.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  5. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

Entire wheat flour
Forms the gluten structure and bulk of the loaf, giving it a sturdy, chewy crumb.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, which makes the dough rise and become airy.
New orleans molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep color and flavor to the crust and crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to release gas, adding extra lift and darkening the crumb.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and contributes richness and moisture.

The step that matters

Stir in the remaining flour until the dough drops from the spoon.. Whole wheat flour absorbs water slowly and bran can cut gluten strands, so the dough must be stiff enough to hold shape but not overworked. Too much flour makes a dense loaf; too little leaves it slack and gummy.

“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 whole wheat bread recipes

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