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Bread

Steamed Brown Bread

A steamed bread made with sweet milk, molasses, Indian meal, rye or Graham flour, salt, and baking soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and rye work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 918 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Steamed Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Mix and steam

  1. In a bowl, mix sweet milk, molasses, Indian meal, rye or Graham flour, salt, and baking soda until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a greased steaming mold.

  3. Steam for 3 hours.

Bake

  1. After steaming, bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes or until done.

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. Milk + ryetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Molasses + ryetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 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

Indian meal
Gives the bread its coarse, crumbly body and hearty texture.
Rye or graham flour
Provides the main structure and the wholesome, earthy flavor of the loaf.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture to the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses and milk to lift the batter and help it rise.
Sweet milk
Hydrates the flours and meal, forming the batter and adding moisture.

The step that matters

Steaming the mold. Steam keeps the batter moist while the baking soda leavens it. The mold must be well greased and sealed so the bread does not dry out or turn soggy.

“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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