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Bread

Molasses Ginger Bread

A moist ginger bread made with molasses, sugar, shortening, ginger, flour, 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: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Molasses Ginger 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.

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, mix molasses, sugar, shortening, and ginger until well combined.

  2. Add hot water and stir until smooth.

  3. Sift together flour and baking soda, then gradually add to the mixture, stirring vigorously.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into two layer cake pans or a dripping pan.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 40 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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Molasses + gingertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Ginger + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Molasses
Adds deep sweetness, dark color, and a moist, dense crumb.
All-purpose flour
Provides the structure that holds the bread's crumb together as it bakes.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the batter.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and carries the ginger flavor.
Granulated sugar
Adds sweetness and helps browning on the crust.

The step that matters

Sifting flour with baking soda and stirring vigorously. Sifting spreads the baking soda evenly so no pockets remain, which can cause bitter spots or uneven rise. Vigorous stirring develops gluten for structure, but overmixing can toughen the crumb.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, flour):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Jalapenofits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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