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Bread

Graham Bread

A yeast-leavened bread made with rye flour, Indian meal, Graham flour, and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Graham Bread

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Mix rye flour, Indian meal, and Graham flour into a thin batter.

  2. Let the batter rise until light, then divide into tins immediately.

  3. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, depending on loaf size.

  4. If desired, add a little molasses to the batter.

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. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Rye + potatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 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. Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 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

Rye flour
Provides the main structure and body of the loaf, with a dense, slightly chewy crumb.
Indian meal
Adds coarse texture and body, giving the loaf a grainy, hearty crumb.
Graham flour
Adds a nutty, coarse texture and extra structure from its bran and germ.
Potato yeast
Ferments the batter, producing gas that makes the loaf rise and turn light.
Molasses or brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour, and helps the crust brown during baking.

The step that matters

Letting the batter rise until light. The yeast needs enough time to trap gas in the batter so the loaf bakes up light. Dividing it too early gives a heavy loaf, while letting it over-rise can cause it to collapse or sour.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rye, flour, molasses):

  1. Beetrootfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rye, flour, molasses. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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