Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Old Fashioned Graham Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
In a large bowl, combine yeast, warm water, salt, and sugar.
Add baking soda and stir in enough Graham flour to create a stiff batter that drops off the spoon easily.
Grease your bread pans and pour in the batter.
Rise and bake
Set the pans aside to rise until the dough is light.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) 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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the batter rise and turns it light and airy.
- Graham flour
- Provides the bulk and structure of the bread, with its bran adding a coarse, hearty texture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to lighten the batter and helps it rise further in the oven.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and browning to the crust.
The step that matters
Stiff batter consistency. The batter should be stiff enough to drop off the spoon but not dense. Too much flour makes the bread heavy and dry, while too little leaves it slack and unable to hold its rise.
“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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