Why it works: Rye and corn work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 182 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Brown Bread Once More
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the rye flour, Indian corn flour, graham flour, molasses, water, salt, and baking soda, and mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a steamer and steam for three hours.
After steaming, let the bread stand uncovered in the oven for a while.
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.
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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Rye + corntop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together182 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rye flour
- Provides body and a dense, hearty crumb, since it forms little gluten structure.
- Indian corn flour
- Adds a coarse, crumbly texture and a dense body to the loaf.
- Graham flour
- Adds bran and whole-grain texture, giving a nutty, coarser crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture to the bread.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses' acidity to release gas that lightens the batter.
The step that matters
Steaming for the full three hours. Steam's moist heat is what sets this heavy, flour-based batter into a loaf. Cutting the steaming short leaves the centre wet, gummy and dense, because the starches and proteins have not fully gelatinised and set.
“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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