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Bread

Graham Bread

A yeast‑leavened loaf made with graham, rye, and wheat flours, brown sugar, and salt, baked at 300°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Graham Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. In a large bowl, mix the graham, rye, and wheat flours, brown sugar, yeast, and salt together until well combined.

  2. Add enough warm water to create a thick sponge that will drop from a spoon.

  3. Cover the bowl and let the mixture stand overnight.

Shape and bake

  1. The next day, stir the mixture down and transfer it into greased pans.

  2. Allow the dough to rise until light again.

  3. Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for nearly 1 hour.

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 + wheattop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Flour + ryetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Rye + sugartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Graham flour
Adds a coarse, nutty texture and wholesome flavour to the loaf.
Rye flour
Contributes a dense crumb and distinctive flavour, with less gluten to trap gas.
Wheat flour
Provides gluten that builds structure and lets the loaf rise and hold its shape.
Brown sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and moisture, aiding browning in the crust.
Active dry yeast
Ferments the sponge overnight and produces gas that leavens the bread.

The step that matters

Let the sponge stand overnight. The long fermentation lets yeast work slowly, developing flavour and acidity and raising the dough before baking. Stir it down gently so the gas is shared evenly and the crumb stays fine.

“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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