Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Scald the milk and add the water.
When lukewarm, add the dissolved yeast, salt, sugar, and shortening. Beat until very light and spongy.
Set aside to rise until doubled in bulk.
Add enough whole wheat flour to make a stiff dough and knead.
Shape and bake
Let rise a second time, then shape into loaves and place in pans.
When raised to desired lightness, bake for 45 minutes.
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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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Whole wheat flour
- Forms the structure of the dough, and its bran and germ give the bread a denser, nuttier crumb.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide as it feeds on sugar, making the dough rise and become light.
- Milk
- Adds richness, softness, and some browning from its milk sugars and proteins.
- Shortening
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and keeps the bread soft.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning to the crust.
The step that matters
Beat until very light and spongy. This step traps air and starts yeast activity before the flour is added. Under-beating leaves a dense loaf, so the dough should look airy before you move on.
“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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