Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Brown 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.
Mix the batter
Combine sour milk, molasses, baking soda, cornmeal, graham flour, and salt in a bowl, then mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Pour the mixture into a steaming container.
Steam and bake
Steam for 2 hours.
After steaming, bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Milk and flour 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
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to produce gas, which lifts the bread.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk to release carbon dioxide, causing the bread to rise.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the bread.
- Cornmeal
- Adds a coarse, grainy texture and structure to the crumb.
- Graham flour
- Forms the main body of the bread and adds a nutty, wholesome flavor.
The step that matters
Steaming the batter. Steam keeps the batter moist and lets the leavening work before the bread sets, so the loaf rises evenly without drying out. Steaming too briefly or letting the water boil dry can leave the bread dense or underdone in the center.
“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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