Name: Light and Grainy Wheat, Rye, and Flax Seed Bread
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 50 min
Yield: 2 - 9x5 inch loaves
Ingredients: 2 cups boiling water; 2 cups crushed shredded wheat cereal; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/4 cup molasses; 3 tablespoons butter; 2 tablespoons active dry yeast; 1/2 cup warm water; 1 cup whole wheat flour; 1 cup rye flour; 1/2 cup flax seed; 3 cups all-purpose flour, or as needed

Why it works: Wheat and rye match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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.

Wheat + ryetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together404 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Flour + ryetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,002 recipes

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

Butter and flour 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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Rye	1 slice (32g)	83
Molasses	1 tbsp (20g)	58
Flax Seed	1 tbsp (10g) ground	55
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Wheat	not in our table	0

Light and Grainy Wheat, Rye, and Flax Seed Bread