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 ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the cornmeal, graham flour, molasses, baking soda, and salt well.
Pour the mixture into a pot and boil for three hours.
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 + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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 structure of the bread.
- Graham flour
- Adds body and a nutty, wholesome texture to the loaf.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses to help the bread rise and lighten.
The step that matters
Boiling for the full three hours. Long, steady cooking in liquid sets the starch and gums in the cornmeal and flour, so the bread firms up and holds together. Cutting the time short leaves it gummy and crumbly.
“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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