Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Marie Paidar
Ingredients
Directions
SOFT GRAHAM BREAD— Three cups of graham flour, one cup of white flour, one teaspoon of salt, one-half cup of molasses, or one- fourth cup of sugar, one cake of yeast, one and one-half cups of warm water, two tablespoons of butter. Dissolve the yeast with a little of the lukewarm water, mix with other ingredients and beat well. Cover and set in warm place. When the dough is light beat again and pour into bread pans, filling them half full. When light bake in moderate oven.
JULIA M. FARA.
CURRANT BREAD — Dissolve a cake of compressed yeast and a tablespoon of sugar in a cup of lukewarm water and one cup of milk that has been scalded and cooled. Cream three-fourths cup of sugar with four tablespoons of butter and add with two cups of flour to the liquid. Beat well. Cover and put in warm place to raise for about one and one-half hours. Add one cup of floured raisins and four cups of flour and one teaspoon of salt, knead lightly and place in a greased bowl to raise again for about an hour. Mold into loaves, and put into greased pans and let raise one hour. Beat an egg with a little warm water. Brush over loaves. Bake three-fourths of an hour.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Grape | 1/2 cup (76g) | 62 |
| Molasses | 1 tbsp (20g) | 58 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Cake | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, molasses, butter, milk, sugar):
- Raisinthe original
- Vanillafits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Peachfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, molasses, butter, milk, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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