Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Whole Wheat Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sponge
Dissolve the yeast cake in 1 cup of warm water.
Stir in enough white flour to make a batter and let it rise until very light.
Before bed, combine 2 pints of warm water, molasses, a little sugar, and salt; add the yeast and mix well.
Sift in as much whole wheat flour as you can stir in with a spoon; let rise overnight.
Shape and bake
In the morning, stir down the mixture and let it rise again.
Turn out onto a floured surface and shape into loaves.
Bake for 1 hour.
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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Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + wheattop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together702 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Yeast cake
- Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes it rise.
- White flour
- Forms the initial batter that builds structure for the rise.
- Whole wheat flour
- Adds bulk and a denser, nuttier crumb to the loaves.
- Molasses
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness, color, and depth of flavor.
The step that matters
Sift in the whole wheat flour gradually. Whole wheat flour absorbs more water and has bran that cuts gluten strands, so adding only as much as you can stir in keeps the dough workable and the loaves from turning dense.
“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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