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Bread

New England Brown Bread

A yeast bread made with Indian meal, rye flour, molasses, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

New England Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Scald the Indian meal and let it cool to lukewarm.

  2. Add the rye flour and enough lukewarm water to form a dough slightly softer than wheat bread.

  3. Stir in the yeast and molasses.

  4. Let the mixture rise.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until well cooked.

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. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Indian meal
Scalding softens the cornmeal so it absorbs water and gives the loaf a moist, tender crumb.
Rye flour
Provides structure and a dense, earthy flavor in the dough.
Yeast
Ferments the dough so it rises and becomes light.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and a deep flavor to the bread.

The step that matters

Let the mixture rise. The yeast needs warmth and enough time to produce gas; a short or cold rise leaves the bread dense, while over-proofing can cause it to collapse as the structure weakens.

“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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