Why it works: Rye and wheat match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 404 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Brown 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dough
In a large bowl, mix the rye flour and Indian cornmeal.
If desired, add wheat, barley, oat, or rice flour.
Dissolve the yeast in warm milk and add to the flour mixture.
Add salt and mix until a dough forms.
Knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Shape and bake
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a greased loaf pan.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
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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Rye + wheattop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together404 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Barley + ricetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together568 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Wheat + barleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together185 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Rye + barleytop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together66 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rye flour
- Adds a dense, earthy structure and flavor, with less gluten to trap gas than wheat flour.
- Indian cornmeal
- Adds coarse texture, golden color and a sweet corn flavor to the loaf.
- Yeast
- Ferments sugars in the dough, producing carbon dioxide that makes the loaf rise.
- Warm milk
- Hydrates the flour and adds richness, softness and browning from milk sugars.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise until doubled. Yeast needs time and warmth to produce enough gas to lighten the dough. Rising too short leaves a dense loaf, while the dough needs room to expand before baking sets its structure.
“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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