Why it works: Wheat and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Mix the dry ingredients and sift them together.
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk.
Add the molasses and milk to the dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.
Steam
Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.
Steam for 2 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.
-
Wheat + corntop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together465 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Graham flour
- Provides the coarse bran and body that give the bread its hearty texture.
- Wheat flour
- Adds gluten-forming protein that gives the loaf some structure and chew.
- Corn meal
- Adds grainy texture and a slightly crumbly, tender crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture, and helps browning.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to produce gas that lightens the batter.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda in the milk. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly through the batter. Undissolved pockets can leave bitter spots or uneven rising.
“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.
More brown bread recipes
You might also like
Cornbread345 recipes
Wheat Bread65 recipes
Whole Wheat Bread55 recipes
Barley Wheat Bread6 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.