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Rye-and-indian Bread

A steamed bread made with rye flour, Indian meal, molasses, water, baking soda, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and flour 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 ↓

Rye-and-indian Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift the rye flour and Indian meal together, adding the salt.

  2. Warm the water slightly, dissolve the baking soda in it, and mix in the molasses.

  3. Stir the molasses mixture into the flour mixture a little at a time, beating well until fully combined.

Steam and finish

  1. Place the batter in a round tin and set it in a steamer over boiling water.

  2. Steam for 4 hours.

  3. If a crust is desired, bake the bread for 30 minutes after steaming.

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 + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Rye flour
Provides the main structure and a dense, moist crumb typical of rye bread.
Indian meal
Adds coarse body and texture, giving the bread its characteristic grainy crumb.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the batter.
Baking soda
Reacts with the molasses's acidity to lighten the batter and help it rise.

The step that matters

Beating the molasses mixture into the flour. Adding the liquid gradually and beating well keeps the batter smooth and evenly hydrated, so no dry pockets of flour or lumps of baking soda remain and the loaf rises evenly.

“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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