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Bread

Boston Brown Bread

A steamed and baked rye, corn, and graham flour bread sweetened with molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and corn 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 ↓

Boston Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the batter

  1. Measure and sift the rye meal, corn meal, graham flour, salt, and baking soda into a bowl.

  2. Add the molasses and sour milk, then beat well until combined.

  3. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.

Steam and finish

  1. Steam for 3½ hours, ensuring the water in the kettle is boiling and comes halfway up the side of the mold.

  2. Add boiling water as needed to maintain the level.

  3. After steaming, remove the cover and place the mold in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 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. Rye + corntop 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 + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 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
Adds earthy flavour and a dense, hearty crumb.
Corn meal
Gives the bread its coarse texture and body.
Graham flour
Adds structure and a nutty, wholesome flavour.
Baking soda
Reacts with the sour milk to lift and lighten the batter.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep brown colour.
Sour milk
Provides acidity to activate the baking soda and keeps the crumb moist.

The step that matters

Keeping the steaming water boiling and at the right level. If the water stops boiling or drops below the mold's halfway point, steam weakens and the bread cooks unevenly and turns heavy. Adding boiling water keeps the heat and steam steady throughout the long steam.

“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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