Why it works: Flour and rye match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Brown-bread with Yeast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Sift the rye meal and Graham flour thoroughly.
Sift the salt with the Indian meal, then add the baking soda and flour, sifting the soda twice with the flour.
Mix all dry ingredients well, then stir in the molasses.
Gradually add the lukewarm milk, warmed as for raised loaves.
Finally, add the yeast and stir or beat the mixture for 5-6 minutes.
Steam and serve
Prepare a pot with lukewarm water, not boiling, and place the bread in it.
Let the bread cook for 25-30 minutes before the water begins to boil.
Once boiling, maintain a hard boil for 4½ hours, replenishing with boiling water as needed.
Grease the bread tin and cover well.
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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Flour + ryetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rye + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together918 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Flour + milktop 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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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
- Indian meal
- Provides the main body and bulk of the loaf's structure.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture and the dark colour of the bread.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the batter rise and become light.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses to help lift and lighten the loaf.
- Rye meal
- Adds a distinct earthy flavour and a denser, moister crumb.
- Graham flour
- Contributes a coarse texture and nutty, wholesome flavour.
The step that matters
Maintain a hard boil during steaming. The bread is cooked by steam, so the water must keep boiling steadily for the full time. If the water drops below a boil or runs dry, the heat falls and the loaf can turn out heavy and undercooked.
“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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