Why it works: Rye and molasses work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 804 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scald 2 quarts of Indian meal and let it cool.
Add 2 quarts of rye meal, ½ cup of yeast, and ½ cup of molasses.
Stir in warm water until well combined.
Rise and bake
Set aside to rise until light.
Stir well and place in pans to rise a second time.
Steam for 1 hour, then bake for 30 to 60 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + 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
- Indian meal
- Forms the bulk of the loaf and gives it its body and coarse crumb.
- Rye meal
- Adds flavour and a denser structure to the loaf.
- Yeast
- Ferments the batter so it rises light before and between pans.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and feeds the yeast, while deepening the colour of the crust.
The step that matters
Letting the batter rise until light. Yeast needs time and warmth to produce gas that lifts the batter. Under-rising leaves a dense loaf, while the second rise in the pans helps set the final texture.
“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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