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Bread

Hole Wheat Bread

A loaf of whole wheat bread made with yeast, milk, water, sugar or molasses, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓

Hole Wheat Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the liquid

  1. Mix sugar or molasses with milk and water; let cool.

  2. Dissolve yeast in lukewarm water, then stir into the milk mixture.

Make and rise the dough

  1. Add whole wheat flour gradually until a stiff dough forms.

  2. Knead on a floured board until smooth and elastic.

  3. Shape into loaves and place in a greased pan; brush with melted butter.

  4. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes.

  2. Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack.

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. Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Whole wheat flour
Provides the structure of the loaf and a nutty, hearty flavor.
Active dry yeast
Ferments the sugars and produces gas that makes the dough rise.
Milk
Adds richness, softness and browning to the crumb and crust.
Sugar or molasses
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness and color to the loaf.

The step that matters

Let the dough rise until doubled. Yeast needs time to produce enough gas to lighten the dough. Underproofed dough bakes up dense, while a warm, fully risen dough gives an open, airy 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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