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Boston Brown Bread

A thick batter bread made with Indian meal, rye flour, molasses, salt, baking soda, yeast, and water or skimmed milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Boston Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsThe warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “the warm oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Mix the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix Indian meal and rye flour.

  2. Add molasses, salt, baking soda, and yeast.

  3. Pour in enough water or skimmed milk to create a very thick batter.

Rise and bake

  1. Transfer the batter to a baking pan, cover it, and let it rise in a warm place.

  2. When the top cracks, smooth it with a wet hand and place it in a 350°F (175°C) oven until risen.

  3. Bake for 3 to 6 hours, depending on the size of the loaf, ensuring the oven is not too hot.

  4. Let the bread cool in the oven before serving.

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 + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and milk 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

Indian meal
Forms the main body of the bread and gives it a coarse, crumbly texture.
Rye flour
Adds a dense crumb and a robust, earthy flavour.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture to the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the batter.
Yeast
Ferments the batter, producing gas that makes it rise before baking.

The step that matters

Keeping the oven not too hot. A dense, thick batter needs a long, gentle bake so the centre cooks through. A hot oven would set and brown the outside before the inside is done.

“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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