Name: Rye and Indian Meal Bread
Ingredients: 2 cups coarsely ground rye flour; 1 cup Indian meal; 1 ½ cups sour milk or buttermilk; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Why it works: Rye and flour 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 ↓

Rye and Indian Meal Bread

Ingredients

2 cups coarsely ground rye flour
1 cup Indian meal
1 ½ cups sour milk or buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix the rye flour, Indian meal, baking soda, and salt.
Add the sour milk or buttermilk and stir until combined.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.

Bake

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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.

Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together918 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Coarsely ground rye flour: Provides the main structure and a dense, hearty crumb.
Indian meal: Adds coarse texture and body to the crumb.
Sour milk or buttermilk: Adds moisture and acidity that react with the baking soda to lift the loaf.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour milk or buttermilk to produce gas for rising.

The step that matters

Stir the liquid in until just combined. Once the acidic liquid meets the baking soda, gas starts forming right away. Overmixing develops gluten and knocks out gas, leading to a denser loaf. Mixing briefly keeps the rise and a lighter texture.

“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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Rye and Indian Meal Bread