Name: Whole Wheat Bread with Corn Flour
Ingredients: 50 pounds bread flour; 35 pounds whole wheat flour; 15 pounds corn flour; 60 pounds water; 1 to 1½ pounds yeast; 1½ pounds coarse sea salt; 1½ pounds brown sugar (or 1 pound malt extract); 1 to 2 pounds shortening (optional)

Why it works: Wheat and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Whole Wheat Bread with Corn Flour

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dough

Mix the bread flour, whole wheat flour, and corn flour together.
Dissolve the yeast in part of the water.
Dissolve the sugar and salt in the remaining water.
Combine the yeast mixture and the flour mixture.
Ensure the dough temperature is between 78°F and 80°F.

Rise and bake

Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size.
Fold the dough over, let it rest for half the rising time, then bake.

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.

Wheat + corntop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together465 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Bread + wheattop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together209 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread flour: Provides gluten network that gives the loaf structure and chew.
Whole wheat flour: Adds bran and nutty flavor, and absorbs more water, giving a denser crumb.
Corn flour: Adds corn flavor and a slightly tender, golden crumb.
Yeast: Produces carbon dioxide during fermentation, causing the dough to rise.
Brown sugar: Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and color to the crust.

The step that matters

Ensure the dough temperature is between 78°F and 80°F.. Yeast activity depends on temperature. Dough that is too cold rises slowly, while dough that is too warm ferments unevenly and can taste sour, so checking the temperature sets a predictable rise.

“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.