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Electric Brown Bread

A molasses and lard enriched bread baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Electric Brown 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 dough

  1. Rub the lard into one part of the flour.

  2. Mix the baking powder into the other part of the flour.

  3. Combine both mixtures and form a well in the center.

  4. Dissolve the baking soda in the water along with the salt.

  5. Add the molasses and milk.

  6. Mix to form a smooth, slack dough.

Shape and bake

  1. Scale and pan the dough immediately.

  2. Let it rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size.

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

  4. Brush the top with water or lard after baking.

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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + molassestop 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

Graham flour
Provides the coarse, hearty structure and nutty flavor that define the loaf.
Wheat flour
Builds gluten structure so the dough holds its shape and rises.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, softening the crumb and aiding browning.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries flavor through the dough.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture that keeps the bread soft.
Baking powder
Releases gas as it reacts with liquid, lifting the dough as it bakes.

The step that matters

Let it rise until doubled. Rising in a warm place lets the leavening gases expand the gluten network. Underproofed dough bakes dense, while overproofed dough may collapse, so the doubled size is the cue to watch for.

“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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