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Oatmeal Bread

A loaf of bread made with oatmeal, molasses, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Oatmeal Bread

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 ↓

Oatmeal 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.

Prepare the batter

  1. Pour boiling water over the oatmeal and let it sit.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the hot milk, molasses, sugar, and butter until combined.

  3. Add the oatmeal mixture to the wet ingredients.

  4. Dissolve the yeast in a small amount of warm water and add it to the mixture.

  5. Gradually add flour until a batter forms.

Rise and bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and let it rise until doubled in size.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) 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.

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.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Butter and flour 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

Oatmeal
Absorbs the boiling water and adds body and a hearty texture to the crumb.
Flour
Builds the gluten structure that traps gas and holds the loaf together.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide as it ferments, making the batter rise.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deeper flavor, and helps browning.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness and softens the crumb.
Butter
Adds fat for tenderness and a softer texture.

The step that matters

Let the batter rise until doubled. The yeast needs enough time to produce gas and expand the dough. Underproofed bread stays dense, while overproofed bread may collapse 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.

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