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Bread

Steamed Raisin Bread

A steamed bread made with cornmeal, graham flour, molasses, raisins, and leavening agents.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Steamed Raisin Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Scald the cornmeal with enough hot water to moisten it well.

  2. When cool, add the remaining ingredients in the order given, sifting the flour, baking soda, and baking powder together.

Steam

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered, covered mold.

  2. Steam for 2 1/2 hours.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

  5. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cornmeal
Provides a coarse, dense crumb and body to the bread.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that leavens the bread.
Baking powder
Adds additional lift so the steamed loaf rises and stays light.
Sour milk
Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tang.
Graham flour
Supplies the main structure and a nutty, wholesome texture.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep color and flavor.

The step that matters

Scalding the cornmeal. Hot water must fully moisten the cornmeal so it softens and absorbs liquid. Dry pockets left in the cornmeal will stay gritty and can make the crumb uneven.

“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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