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 ↓
Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the sponge
Combine boiling water and fresh milk in a bowl.
When lukewarm, add dissolved yeast, salt, butter, and sugar. Mix well and stir in enough whole wheat flour to make a batter that drops from a spoon.
Cover the bowl to exclude air and let it stand in a warm place (about 75°F) for 3 hours or until light.
Knead and shape
Stir in enough flour to form a soft dough and knead lightly for about 10 minutes.
Shape into 2 loaves and place in greased pans.
Rise and bake
Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Bake in a slow oven (300°F) for about 1.5 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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,002 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Whole wheat flour
- Forms the batter and then the dough, providing the bread's structure and body.
- Yeast
- Ferments the sugars and produces gas that makes the dough rise and turn light.
- Milk
- Adds softness, richness and browning to the crumb and crust.
- Butter
- Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.
- Sugar
- Feeds the yeast and helps the crust brown during baking.
The step that matters
Rising the sponge. The batter must stand covered in a warm place until light, because the yeast needs time and warmth to produce gas. Under-rising leaves a dense loaf, and the dough should be allowed to double before baking so the structure sets properly in the oven.
“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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