Why it works: Rye and molasses work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 804 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Rye and Indian Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the dough
Scald the Indian meal by pouring boiling water over it, stirring constantly until just wet.
Mix the rye meal or flour, molasses, salt, baking soda, and yeast with enough warm water to make a stiff dough.
Let the mixture rise overnight.
Bake
Transfer to a large pan, smooth the top with a wet hand, and let it stand for a short time.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 5 to 6 hours, or overnight if started late in the day.
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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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 meal or rye flour
- Forms the dense, sturdy structure and dark, earthy flavor of the loaf.
- Indian meal
- Scalding softens the cornmeal starch so it adds moisture and a tender, crumbly texture.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown during the long bake.
- Yeast
- Ferments the dough during the overnight rise, producing gas that lightens the crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in the dough to add some extra lift and a softer crumb.
The step that matters
Long, low bake. Baking at a low 300°F for many hours lets the dense dough set through without burning the crust. Too high a heat would brown the outside while the centre stays 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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