Name: Graham Bread
Ingredients: 1 cup molasses; ½ cup sugar; 2 cups sour milk; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 2 cups Graham flour; Wheat flour (enough to thicken like gems); ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Graham Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, sugar, sour milk, baking soda, baking powder, Graham flour, and enough wheat flour to achieve a thick batter. Add salt to taste.

Bake

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

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.

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.

Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,418 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

Milk and flour 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

Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture, and a dark, rich flavor to the loaf.
Sour milk: Acidity reacts with the baking soda to produce gas that helps the loaf rise.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour milk and molasses to lighten the crumb.
Baking powder: Provides additional leavening so the loaf rises during baking.
Graham flour: Forms the structure of the loaf and gives it its coarse, nutty texture.
Wheat flour: Thickens the batter so it holds together as a thick batter rather than pouring loosely.

“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.