Why it works: Rye and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Third Bread
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.
Prepare the dough
Mix the rye meal, scalded Indian meal, and wheat flour in a bowl.
Add the yeast and enough warm water to form a stiff dough.
Set the dough aside to rise for 8 hours.
Shape and bake
Shape the dough into loaves or biscuits, wetting your hands with cold water as needed.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 40 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.
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 + wheattop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together404 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rye meal
- Provides the main flavor and a dense, moist crumb characteristic of rye bread.
- Scalded indian meal
- Adds moisture and a tender texture, since scalding starches the meal so it absorbs water.
- Wheat flour
- Supplies gluten to give the dough structure so it can hold its shape and rise.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide during the rise, leavening the dough and giving it lightness.
The step that matters
Forming the stiff dough. Enough warm water must be added to form a stiff dough. Too little leaves dry, crumbly bread, while too much makes the dough slack and hard to shape. Wetting hands with cold water while shaping keeps sticky dough from clinging.
“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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