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 ↓
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. 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.
Make the dough
In a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour and fresh yeast.
Gradually mix in warm water until a dough forms.
Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise until doubled in size.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into loaves and place in greased pans.
Let the loaves rise again until doubled.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Whole wheat flour
- Forms the structure of the loaf and gives the bread its brown colour and nutty flavour.
- Fresh yeast
- Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light and airy.
- Warm water
- Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and activates the yeast.
The step that matters
Kneading the dough until smooth and elastic. Kneading aligns gluten proteins into a stretchy network that traps the gas from the yeast. Under-kneaded dough rises poorly and gives a dense loaf.
“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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