Why it works: Flour and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,429 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Graham 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.
Make the dough
Mix all the ingredients together until well combined.
Knead the dough for five minutes.
Shape and rise
Shape the dough into three loaves and place each in a well-greased pan, filling it halfway.
Set the pans in a warm place to rise for about three hours.
Bake
When the dough puffs slightly over the tops of the pans, carefully place them in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Bake for one 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.
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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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 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
- Graham flour
- Provides the coarse, bran-rich body and nutty flavour that give this loaf its character.
- White flour
- Adds gluten-forming protein so the dough holds its shape and rises well.
- Yeast
- Produces carbon dioxide gas as it ferments, leavening the dough so it rises and becomes airy.
- Molasses or syrup
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness, moisture and browning to the crust.
The step that matters
Letting the dough rise until it puffs over the pans. Proofing is judged by the dough's rise, not just the clock. Underproofed loaves stay dense and may burst in the oven, while overproofed dough collapses and loses 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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