Why it works: Rye and molasses work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 804 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Rye and Corn Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the dough
Scald the Indian meal by pouring just enough boiling water over it to wet it without making a batter, stirring constantly.
Mix the rye meal or flour, scalded Indian meal, molasses, salt, and yeast together, adding warm water to make a stiff dough.
Let the mixture rise overnight.
Shape and bake
In the morning, add the baking soda dissolved in a little water.
Transfer the dough to a large pan, smooth the top with a hand dipped in cold water, and let it stand for a short time.
Bake for 5 to 6 hours at 300°F (150°C).
If baking late in the day, let it remain in the oven overnight.
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.
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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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 meal or rye flour
- Provides the main body of the dough and a dense, hearty texture.
- Indian meal
- Gives the bread its cornmeal structure and crumb, and is scalded to soften it.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and a dark color as the bread bakes.
- Yeast
- Ferments the dough during the overnight rise, producing gas that lightens it.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic dough to add extra lift and help it rise.
The step that matters
Scalding the Indian meal. Too much boiling water turns the meal into a batter, while too little leaves dry pockets. Adding just enough water and stirring constantly softens the starch evenly so the dough sets with a uniform, moist crumb.
“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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