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Bread

Corn-meal and Rye Bread

A yeast‑leavened bread made with cornmeal, rye flour, molasses, and yeast, baked until crusty.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and rye 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 ↓

Corn-meal and Rye Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift the corn meal and rye flour into a deep bowl.

  2. Mix the sifted flour with the salt.

  3. Mix the molasses with ½ pint of warm water in a separate bowl.

  4. Stir in the yeast.

  5. Pour the yeast mixture into a well made in the center of the flour mixture.

  6. Stir in enough flour to make a thick batter.

  7. Sprinkle the top with rye flour.

  8. Cover with a cloth.

  9. Let it rise in a warm place for 3-4 hours until cracked on the surface.

Knead and rise

  1. Gradually add about 1 pint of warm water to the batter.

  2. Mix until it forms a round mass.

  3. Sprinkle the dough with rye flour.

  4. Flour your hands.

  5. Knead the dough for 30 minutes until it no longer sticks to your hands.

  6. Cover the dough.

  7. Let it rise again until it is light and cracked on the surface.

Bake and cool

  1. Grease a deep tin or iron pan.

  2. Place the dough inside.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 2 hours.

  4. Wrap the bread in a clean, damp towel.

  5. Stand it on end to cool.

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. Corn + ryetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 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

Corn meal
Forms the bulk of the loaf and gives it a coarse, crumbly texture.
Rye flour
Adds gluten-forming structure and body so the dough can hold its shape.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and deep color, and feeds the yeast.
Yeast
Produces gas that makes the batter and dough rise and become light.

The step that matters

Letting the batter rise until cracked. The batter needs enough time for the yeast to build gas and bubbles. Rising too short leaves a dense loaf, while the cracked surface shows the batter has risen enough to proceed.

“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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