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Dessert

Ginger Bread

A sweet bread flavored with molasses, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Ginger 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Mix the batter

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in a little sour milk.

  2. In a large bowl, mix together the molasses, brown sugar, shortening, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

  3. Add the dissolved baking soda and the remaining sour milk to the mixture.

  4. Gradually stir in the flour until well combined.

  5. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and then fold them into the batter.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick 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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Nutmeg + gingertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Builds the structure that holds the baked crumb together.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and the dark color and flavor of gingerbread.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the cake rise.
Eggs
Add structure and help bind the batter as it sets in the oven.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries the spices.
Sour milk
Supplies acidity that activates the baking soda and adds tenderness.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda in a little sour milk. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly with the acid in the sour milk. Lumps of undissolved soda can leave bitter patches and uneven rising.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, milk, flour, egg):

  1. Cardamomfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, milk, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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