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Steamed Brown Bread

A steamed bread made with whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, buttermilk, almond milk, maple syrup, raisins, and baking powder.

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 Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Mix the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix the whole-wheat flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt thoroughly.

  2. Add the buttermilk, almond milk, maple syrup, and raisins to the dry ingredients.

  3. Beat the mixture well until combined.

Steam and brown

  1. Pour the batter into a buttered double boiler.

  2. Steam for 4 hours.

  3. After steaming, brown the bread in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for a few minutes.

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. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Wheat + almondtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Whole-wheat flour
Provides the main structure and a firm, hearty crumb as it sets.
Southern white cornmeal
Adds body and a coarse, tender texture to the crumb.
Baking powder
Releases gas that lifts the batter and helps it rise.
Sweet buttermilk or sweet milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the flour and cornmeal and softens the crumb.
Pure maple syrup or sorghum
Adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the crust brown.

The step that matters

Keep the steam going for the full 4 hours. Steaming cooks the batter with moist, even heat, so it sets without drying out. If the water boils low or runs dry, the bread can cook unevenly or scorch on the bottom.

“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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