Name: Rye Bread
Ingredients: 1 quart water; 1 teacup yeast; rye flour; 1 pint corn meal

Why it works: Rye and corn work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 182 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Rye Bread

Ingredients

1 quart water
1 teacup yeast
rye flour
1 pint corn meal

Directions

Make a sponge by mixing water, yeast, and enough rye flour to create a batter.
Let the sponge rise in a warm place.
Scald the corn meal and let it cool.
Add the cooled corn meal to the sponge and knead in more rye flour until combined.
Place the dough into deep pans.

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.

Rye + corntop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together182 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,165 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).