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Bread

New England Brown Bread

A yeast bread made with Indian meal, rye flour, molasses, and lukewarm water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and flour 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 ↓

New England Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Scald the Indian meal and let it cool to lukewarm.

  2. Add the rye flour and enough lukewarm water to form a dough slightly softer than for wheat bread.

  3. Stir in the yeast and molasses.

  4. Let the mixture rise.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until well cooked.

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. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Indian meal
Scalded cornmeal gives the loaf its coarse, tender crumb and hearty body.
Rye flour
Adds its own flavour and structure, with gluten-building needs that keep the loaf open but moist.
Yeast
Produces gas during the rise, leavening the dough so the loaf becomes light.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and helps the crust brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Stir in the yeast and let the mixture rise. Yeast must be mixed into dough that has cooled to lukewarm; heat kills yeast, while cold slows it. Proper warmth lets the yeast produce gas steadily, so the loaf rises and turns out light rather than dense.

“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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