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Bread

Boston Brown Bread

A dense bread made with cornmeal, Graham flour, wheat flour, baking soda, molasses, and sweet milk, baked in a water bath.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Boston Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, Graham flour, wheat flour, baking soda, molasses, and sweet milk. Beat well until smooth.

  2. Pour the mixture into a greased tin mold with a tight lid.

Steam and finish

  1. Place the mold in a kettle of boiling water and ensure the water boils continuously for 3 to 4 hours, adding boiling water as needed to keep the level up to the bread.

  2. Once cooked, remove the mold from the kettle and place it in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  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. Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Cornmeal
Provides the bulk and coarse, crumbly texture of the bread.
Graham flour
Adds structure and a nutty, wholesome flavor and color.
Wheat flour
Builds gluten structure so the loaf holds together after steaming.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses acidity to lighten the loaf and help it rise.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Sweet milk
Hydrates the flours to form a batter and keeps the loaf moist.

The step that matters

Keeping the kettle boiling and the water level up. Steaming needs a steady supply of boiling water around the mold. If the water drops or stops boiling, the bread cooks unevenly and can turn out dense and gummy.

“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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