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Bread

Entire Wheat Bread

A loaf of bread made with whole wheat flour, milk, water, sugar, salt, shortening, and yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Entire Wheat Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the dough

  1. Pour scalding milk and boiling water over sugar, salt, and shortening.

  2. Let the mixture cool slightly.

  3. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water and add to the mixture.

  4. Stir in 1 cup of white flour and 3 cups of entire wheat flour. Mix well.

  5. Add 2 more cups of entire wheat flour.

  6. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic.

Rise and shape

  1. Place the dough in a bowl, cover, and let it rise until well risen.

  2. Shape the dough into loaves, cover, and let rise again.

Bake

  1. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes.

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 + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Entire wheat flour
Forms the main structure of the loaf and gives its hearty, nutty flavour.
White flour
Adds gluten strength that helps the dough hold its shape and rise.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide gas that makes the dough rise and become airy.
Milk
Adds softness, richness and browning to the crumb and crust.
Shortening
Tenderises the crumb and adds fat for a softer texture.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and promotes browning in the crust.

The step that matters

Kneading the dough until smooth and elastic. Kneading develops gluten strands that trap the gas produced by yeast. Under-kneaded whole wheat dough rises poorly and bakes up dense, so knead until it springs back when pressed.

“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.

More whole wheat bread recipes

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