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Bread

Ixdian Bread

A steamed and baked bread made with sour and sweet milk, molasses, and a mix of cornmeal, rice flour, or wheat flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Ixdian 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.

Mix the batter

  1. In a bowl, combine sour milk, sweet milk, molasses, baking soda, and salt.

  2. Add equal parts of cornmeal and rice flour, or graham flour, or wheat flour until the batter thickens enough to run from the spoon.

Steam and bake

  1. Steam the mixture for 2½ hours.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

Finish

  1. Remove from the oven and pour 1 cup of cold water over the top.

  2. Cover quickly to soften the crust and let it stand for a few moments before removing from the tin.

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. Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,243 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Molasses + ricetop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together217 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

Sour milk
Its acidity reacts with baking soda to produce gas that lightens the bread.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in sour milk and molasses to make the bread rise.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and contributes to the bread's flavour.
Cornmeal and rice flour
Provide the bulk and structure of the batter, giving a crumbly, tender texture.

The step that matters

Adding the flour to the right consistency. The batter must thicken enough to run from the spoon. Too thick gives a dense loaf, while too thin gives a gummy crumb that may not set properly during steaming.

“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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