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Dessert

Original Ginger Bread

A moist ginger bread made with molasses, brown sugar, butter, sour milk, ginger, soda, eggs, and flour, baked in a shallow pan and topped with walnuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Kaufman, Nettie M · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Original Ginger Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dissolve the soda in the sour milk or cream.

Make the batter

  1. Add the molasses, cinnamon, brown sugar, melted butter, ginger, eggs, and enough flour to the mixture, and stir until a soft batter forms.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake the batter in a shallow pan.

  2. Strew small pieces of English walnuts over the warm bread.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

442Calories
14 gProtein
25 gFat
42 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sour Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6

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

By Kaufman, Nettie M. 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + cinnamontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Molasses
Adds dark color, moisture, and a deep, sweet flavor.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the soda and tenderizes the crumb.
Soda
Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release gas, helping the bread rise.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set during baking to give structure.
Butter
Adds fat for a tender texture and a rich mouthfeel.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown.

The step that matters

Dissolving the soda in the sour milk. Soda needs an acid to react and release gas for rise. Dissolving it fully in the sour milk before mixing spreads it evenly, so the bread rises uniformly rather than in patches.

“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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