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Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

A loaf of whole wheat bread made with milk, water, butter, sugar, salt, yeast, and sifted whole wheat flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Whole Wheat Bread

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 ↓

Whole Wheat 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

  1. In a wide, shallow granite pan, combine the fresh milk, lukewarm water, butter, sugar, salt, and dissolved yeast.

  2. Slowly stir in the sifted whole wheat flour, one pint at a time, until the dough is stiff.

  3. Knead in the additional pint of flour by hand, working from the edge of the pan to avoid lumps.

  4. Knead for half an hour until the dough is soft and smooth, and the pan is clear of flour.

  5. Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for three hours.

Shape and rise

  1. Divide the dough in half, shape into two loaves, and place in greased round crimped pans.

  2. Cover and let rise for one hour.

Bake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Bake the bread for half an hour.

  3. Turn the pans over for even browning.

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.

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.

  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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + wheattop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

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

Butter and flour 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
Forms the main structure of the loaf as its proteins and starches set during baking.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars in the dough, producing gas that makes the loaf rise.
Milk
Adds softness and a tender crumb, along with some browning from its milk sugars.
Butter
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and gives a richer flavor.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning to the crust.

The step that matters

Kneading until smooth. Kneading develops gluten, the stretchy network that traps gas from the yeast. Whole wheat flour absorbs more water and has bran that cuts through gluten, so the dough needs thorough kneading to rise well and hold its shape.

“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.

More whole wheat bread recipes

Unfermented 3 See all 125 →

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