Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Steamed Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Combine milk, meal, brown flour, molasses, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
Pour the mixture into a greased pan.
Steam for 3 hours.
If you prefer, bake it long enough to form a crust.
Let it stand covered with a thick cloth for 2 minutes after steaming to prevent sticking.
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.
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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
- Meal
- Provides the bulk and body of the loaf as the main dry base.
- Brown flour
- Adds structure and a denser, nuttier crumb to the bread.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture to the batter.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lift the batter as it steams.
- Milk
- Hydrates the dry ingredients and helps form a moist, tender crumb.
The step that matters
Let it stand covered after steaming. Resting the bread covered with a cloth for a short time after steaming lets it firm up and reduces sticking to the pan, so it holds its shape when turned out.
“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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