Why it works: Flour and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,429 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Graham Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare a sponge as you would for white bread.
Once the sponge is very light, mix in 2 parts Graham flour and ⅓ part white flour.
Add 1 handful of meal and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Wet the mixture with the sponge and stir until combined.
For a loaf of fair size, add ½ teacup of molasses.
Knead the dough until very soft and well combined.
Allow the dough to rise a second time.
Do not sift the brown flour.
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.
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + breadtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,383 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Molasses + breadtop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together529 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Flour and bread barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,383 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
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