Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, scalded graham flour, molasses, dissolved baking soda, sour milk mixture, wheat flour, and salt.
Stir the mixture well until fully combined.
Bake
Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 2 hours, or steam for 3 hours.
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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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 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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Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Flour and milk 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
- Cornmeal
- Provides the coarse, crumbly body and the characteristic grainy texture of the loaf.
- Graham flour
- Adds bran and a nutty, wholesome flavor and a denser crumb when scalded.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture, and helps the loaf brown.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds tenderness and moisture.
- Wheat flour
- Provides gluten for structure so the loaf holds its shape.
The step that matters
Stir the batter until fully combined. Baking soda must meet the acidic sour milk to rise, so the batter should be evenly mixed without lumps of soda. Wheat flour gluten also develops with stirring, so mix just until smooth to keep the loaf from turning tough.
“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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