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Bread

Boston Brown Bread

A dense, sweet rye bread made with rye meal, Indian meal, sour milk, molasses, salt, baking soda, and hot water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and milk 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 ↓

Boston Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Mix the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine the rye meal, Indian meal, sour milk, and molasses.

  2. Dissolve the baking soda in a little hot water and add it to the mixture along with the salt. Stir well until combined.

Rise and steam

  1. Pour the batter into a greased pan and let it rise for one hour.

  2. Steam the bread for four hours.

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. Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

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

  2. Rye + molassestop 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

Rye meal
Gives the loaf its dense, hearty structure and earthy flavor.
Indian meal
Adds coarse texture and body that holds the loaf together.
Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to lift the batter.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the bread.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk acid to produce gas that makes the bread rise.

The step that matters

Dissolve the baking soda before adding it. Baking soda must be fully dissolved in hot water so it spreads evenly through the batter. Undissolved pockets can leave bitter, unevenly risen spots, and the reaction with the sour milk's acid gives the loaf its lift.

“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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