Why it works: Flour and rye match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
Combine thick sour milk and baking soda in a bowl, mixing well.
Add Graham flour, rye flour, Indian meal, molasses, and salt to the mixture.
Stir until all ingredients are well combined.
Steam and serve
Pour the batter into a greased steaming mold.
Steam for 5 hours until cooked through.
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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Flour + ryetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + ryetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together918 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together804 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
- Thick sour milk
- Reacts with baking soda to lift the batter and adds a tangy flavor.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that makes the bread rise.
- Graham flour
- Provides the bulk structure and the coarse, wholesome texture of the bread.
- Rye flour
- Adds body and a dense, moist crumb with a distinctive flavor.
- Indian meal
- Adds coarse grain texture and helps give the loaf its firm structure.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and a deep brown color to the bread.
The step that matters
Steam for 5 hours until cooked through. Steaming cooks the batter gently and keeps it moist. The bread must be fully set, so a steady, uninterrupted steam over the full time is needed to avoid a gummy or underdone center.
“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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