Name: Oatmeal Bread
Ingredients: 1 quart boiling water; 2 cups oatmeal; 1 tablespoon shortening; ½ compressed yeast cake; 2 tablespoons lukewarm water; 1 cup molasses; 1 teaspoon salt; wheat flour (as needed)

Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Pour boiling water over oatmeal and shortening.
When lukewarm, add softened yeast, lukewarm water, molasses, and salt.
Thicken with wheat flour until stiff enough to stir with a spoon.
Let rise overnight.
In the morning, mold into loaves and biscuits.

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.

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.

Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Molasses + wheattop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together702 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).