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Bread

Graham Bread

A quick bread made with graham flour, raisins, molasses, sour milk, brown sugar, soda, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Graham Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the soda and milk

  1. Dissolve 2 ½ teaspoons soda in a little water.

  2. Add the dissolved soda to 2 cups sour milk.

Make the dough

  1. Stir in ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup molasses, a pinch of salt, and 4 cups graham flour.

  2. Add ½ cup seeded raisins.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into tins.

  2. Raise the dough for one hour.

  3. Bake for one hour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

566Calories
14 gProtein
2 gFat
124 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. 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. 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.

  1. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

What each ingredient does

Soda
Reacts with the sour milk's acid to release gas, which lifts the dough.
Sour milk (in the method)
Supplies the acid that activates the soda and adds moisture and tang.
Graham flour
Forms the main structure of the bread and adds a nutty, coarse texture.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crumb brown during baking.
Molasses (in the method)
Adds moisture, deep flavour and colour to the bread.

The step that matters

Add the dissolved soda to the sour milk. Soda begins releasing gas as soon as it meets the acid in sour milk, so the dough should be mixed and tinned promptly to keep that lift in the 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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