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Bread

Graham Bread

A quick loaf made with sour milk, sugar, molasses, graham flour, baking soda, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Graham Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

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.

Mix the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine sour milk, sugar, molasses, salt, and baking soda.

  2. Gradually add graham flour and mix until well combined.

Rise and bake

  1. Let the mixture rise for one hour.

  2. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  3. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake until golden brown.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda and keeps the loaf moist and tender.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in the sour milk and molasses to release gas that makes the loaf rise.
Graham flour
Its bran and germ give the loaf its structure, coarse texture and nutty flavour.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.

The step that matters

Letting the batter rise. Baking soda reacts with the acid in the sour milk and molasses as soon as they meet, releasing gas. That gas lifts the loaf, so the rise and the bake should follow the recipe's timing to keep the bubbles trapped in the batter.

“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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