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Bread

Graham Bread

A yeast‑leavened loaf made with white patent flour, graham flour, water, salt, molasses, sugar, malt extract, lard, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Graham 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.

Make the dough

  1. Combine white patent flour, graham flour, and water in a large mixing bowl.

  2. Add coarse sea salt, molasses, sugar, malt extract, and yeast to the mixture.

  3. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.

  4. Incorporate lard or shortening into the dough.

  5. Allow the dough to rise until doubled in size.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough into loaves and place in greased pans.

  2. Let the loaves rise again until puffy.

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

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + malttop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together325 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Flour + malttop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

White patent flour
Provides gluten network that gives the loaves structure and rise.
Graham flour
Adds bran and whole-grain texture and a nutty, toasted flavor.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide during fermentation, leavening the dough so it rises.
Lard or other shortening
Tenderizes the crumb and adds richness by coating gluten strands.
Molasses
Feeds the yeast, adds moisture, and contributes color and browning.

The step that matters

Incorporate lard or shortening into the dough. Fat added before gluten is fully developed coats flour proteins and limits strand formation, so the dough can become greasy or weak. Adding it after kneading lets gluten form first, then the fat tenderizes the crumb.

“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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