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Graham Bread with Soda and Sponge

A soda-based graham bread made with broken-up sponge, molasses, lard, and optional sour milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Graham Bread with Soda and Sponge

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, combine the broken-up sponge and salt.

  2. Add the molasses and baking soda dissolved in water.

  3. Gradually mix in enough graham flour to create a very slack dough.

  4. When half mixed, add the soft lard and work the dough until smooth.

Prove and bake

  1. Fill pans without molding and let the dough prove until it has risen well.

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

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. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

Broken-up sponge
Provides the fermented starter that leavens and gives the dough its flavour and open crumb.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark colour that helps the crust brown.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidity in the dough to release gas, helping it rise and darken.
Graham flour
Forms the gluten structure and bulk that holds the loaf together.
Soft lard
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and makes the dough smoother to work.

The step that matters

Adding the baking soda dissolved in water. Baking soda needs acid to react and release carbon dioxide. If it is unevenly dispersed or the dough is too acidic or too alkaline, pockets of soda can leave soapy taste, dark spots, or 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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