Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓
Brown-bread, No. 3
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dissolve the baking soda in ½ cup of sour milk, ensuring it is well mixed.
Butter a brown-bread tin and its cover generously.
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine the sour milk, Indian meal, Graham flour, salt, molasses, and the dissolved baking soda, then mix all ingredients thoroughly until well combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
Steam
Steam for 3 hours and 30 minutes.
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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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Molasses + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,408 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Milk and flour 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
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas, helping the bread rise.
- Sour milk
- Provides liquid and acidity that activates the baking soda and moistens the batter.
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal gives the bread its coarse, crumbly structure and body.
- Graham flour
- Adds whole-grain structure and a nutty, hearty texture to the crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture to the finished loaf.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda before mixing. Baking soda must be fully dissolved and evenly distributed so it reacts with the acid in the sour milk throughout the batter. Uneven mixing leaves pockets of soda that can taste bitter or cause patchy 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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