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Graham Bread

Bread made with graham flour, yeast or baking powder, molasses, sugar, salt, water, and optional butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Graham Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sponge

  1. Combine one teacupful of wheat flour, one-half teacupful of Porto Rico molasses, one-half cupful of good yeast, one teaspoonful of salt, and one pint of warm water.

  2. Add sufficient Graham flour to make the dough as stiff as can be stirred with a strong spoon, and mix at night.

  3. In the morning, add one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little water and mix well.

  4. Pour into two medium-sized pans, about half full.

  5. Let stand in a warm place until the dough rises to the top of the pans.

Bake the loaf

  1. Bake one hour in a pretty hot oven.

  2. Cover the loaf about twenty minutes after placing in the oven with thick brown paper or an old tin cover.

Make the baking powder batter

  1. Stir together three heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder, three cups of Graham flour, and one cup of white flour.

  2. Add a large teaspoonful of salt and half a cup of sugar.

  3. Mix all thoroughly with milk or water into as stiff a batter as can be stirred with a spoon.

  4. If water is used, melt a lump of butter as large as a walnut and stir it into the batter.

  5. Bake immediately in well-greased pans.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

562Calories
13 gProtein
1 gFat
123 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 6 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Wheatnot in our table0

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

By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Wheat + molassestop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together702 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Yeast
Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Graham flour
Forms the main structure of the dough and gives the loaf its body.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and a darker browned crust.
Soda
Reacts with acid in the dough to release gas and lift the batter.
Baking powder
Releases gas when moistened and heated, lifting the batter as it bakes.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown.

The step that matters

Let the dough rise fully before baking. Yeast gas needs time to expand the dough. If the dough has not risen to the top of the pans before baking, the loaf will likely turn out dense and heavy.

“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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