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Bread

Entire-Wheat Bread

A loaf of bread made with unsifted whole wheat flour, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, and warm water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Entire-Wheat Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Sift the flour into a bowl, reserving 1 cup for kneading later.

  2. Mix the sugar and salt with the remaining flour.

  3. Dissolve the yeast in a small amount of warm water.

  4. Add the rest of the water and the yeast mixture to the flour, then add the softened butter. Beat vigorously.

Knead and rise

  1. Sprinkle a clean surface with some reserved flour and turn the dough onto it.

  2. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 20 to 30 minutes.

  3. Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and let it rise in a warm place (about 70°F) for about 8 hours.

Shape and bake

  1. Shape the dough, butter a bread pan, and place the loaves in it.

  2. Let them rise until doubled in size.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.

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. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Provides the bulk of the structure and gives the bread its nutty, hearty texture.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, making the dough rise and become light.
Water
Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and dissolves the yeast to activate it.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast, speeding fermentation and adding a little sweetness and browning.
Butter
Adds fat that softens the crumb and gives a tender texture and richer flavour.

The step that matters

Kneading until smooth and elastic. Kneading develops the gluten network that traps the gas from the yeast. Under-kneaded dough rises poorly and bakes up dense, while the right elasticity gives a light, well-structured 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.

More whole wheat bread recipes

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