Why it works: Bread and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Graham Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
In a large bowl, combine the bread flour, Graham flour, and salt.
Make the batter
Add the sugar or molasses to the flour mixture.
In a separate bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the sour milk, then add it to the flour mixture. Mix until well combined.
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake
Bake for 1½ hours.
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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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + flourtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,383 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Bread flour
- Provides gluten structure to hold the loaf together.
- Graham flour
- Adds coarse bran and nutty flavour and a denser crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk's acid to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Sour milk
- Supplies acidity to activate the baking soda and adds moisture.
- Sugar or molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture and browning to the crust.
The step that matters
Dissolving the baking soda in the sour milk. Baking soda needs an acid to react and release carbon dioxide. Mixing it into the sour milk before combining with the flour lets it react and lift the batter, so the loaf rises properly rather than staying dense.
“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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