Name: Norwegian Bread
Ingredients: 1 pint milk; 1 cup barley meal; 1 cup graham flour; 1 cup wheat flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; coarse sea salt to taste

Why it works: Barley and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 185 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Norwegian 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.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, combine the barley meal, graham flour, wheat flour, baking powder, and salt.

Mix and bake

Gradually add the milk to the dry ingredients, mixing until well combined.
Pour the batter into square bread tins.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted 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.

Barley + wheattop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together185 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,418 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Barley + flourtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together582 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + barleytop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together598 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Barley meal: Provides the base structure and a hearty, earthy flavour to the loaf.
Graham flour: Adds coarse bran and nutty flavour, giving the bread a denser, more rustic texture.
Wheat flour: Supplies gluten that gives the batter enough structure to hold its shape when baked.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the oven, lifting the batter so the bread rises and becomes lighter.
Milk: Hydrates the flours so they form a cohesive batter and adds moisture and richness.

“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.