Why it works: Flour and milk 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.
Make the batter
Combine Graham flour, cornmeal, sour milk, molasses, and baking soda in a bowl and mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased steaming mold.
Steam and finish
Steam for 2½ hours.
After steaming, place in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 15 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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 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).
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
- Graham flour
- Provides the bulk and structure of the bread, with a coarse, hearty texture.
- Cornmeal
- Adds body and a slightly grainy texture to the crumb.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to produce gas that lightens the bread.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture to the loaf.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce carbon dioxide, helping the bread rise.
The step that matters
Steam for the full time without lifting the lid. Steaming gently sets the batter as it rises. Opening the mold lets steam escape and the cooling air can cause the loaf to collapse or turn out dense.
“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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