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Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

A yeast-leavened loaf made with whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, molasses, lard, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Whole Wheat Bread

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 ↓

Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the sponge

  1. In a quart measure, fill with tepid water and dissolve the yeast cake in a little water.

  2. Pour the yeast mixture over the flour and mix thoroughly.

  3. Let the mixture rise overnight.

Shape and bake

  1. The next morning, work the sponge down without adding more flour. Use lard or flour on your fingertips if necessary.

  2. Place the dough in oiled bread pans and let it rise.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for one hour.

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.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Wheat + flourtop 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

Whole wheat flour
Provides the main structure of the loaf through gluten and gives it its whole grain flavour.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars in the dough, producing gas that makes the bread rise.
Molasses or karo syrup
Adds sweetness and moisture, and feeds the yeast while it ferments.
Lard
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps the loaf soft.

The step that matters

Working the sponge the next morning without adding more flour. Whole wheat dough is sticky after an overnight rise, and extra flour added to correct it can make the loaf dense and dry. Light handling with greased fingertips keeps the texture open.

“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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