Why it works: Molasses and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,429 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Graham Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sponge
In a large bowl, combine half of the water and the yeast to create a sponge.
Mix in half graham flour and half all-purpose flour until well combined.
Let the sponge rise until bubbly.
Mix and shape the dough
Add the remaining water, salt, molasses, and lard to the sponge.
Gradually mix in more graham flour to form a medium slack dough.
Allow the dough to rise until it has doubled in size.
Punch down the dough, scale it into portions, and place in pans.
Let the dough rise again until it has risen about three-quarters.
Bake and finish
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.
Brush with water or melted butter or lard after baking.
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.
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 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
- Yeast
- Ferments the sponge, producing gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Graham flour
- Provides the structure and the coarse, nutty texture of the bread.
- All-purpose flour
- Adds gluten for elasticity, helping the dough hold its shape and rise.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture, and helps browning during baking.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and keeps the bread soft.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise to the right point before baking. Under-proofed dough bakes dense, while over-proofed dough loses gas and structure and may collapse. Rising until doubled and then to about three-quarters lets yeast produce enough gas for an even, open crumb.
“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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