Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine sour milk, molasses, cornmeal, rye flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and raisins. Mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased steaming mold.
Steam and dry
Steam for 3 hours.
After steaming, dry the bread in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 20 minutes.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rye + raisintop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + ryetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together918 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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 so the bread rises and turns tender.
- Rye flour
- Provides the dense, sturdy structure and the dark, earthy flavour of the loaf.
- Molasses
- Adds moisture, sweetness and the deep brown colour of the bread.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release gas, leavening the batter.
- Cornmeal
- Adds coarse texture and body that helps give the crumb its structure.
The step that matters
Steam for the full 3 hours in a sealed mold. Steaming gently cooks the batter through without drying the surface, and the leavening gas needs sustained moist heat to set the crumb. Lifting the lid or letting the water run low can leave the bread gummy or sunken.
“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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