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Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

A loaf of bread made with whole wheat flour, yeast, shortening, salt, sugar, and water, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Whole Wheat Bread

Why it works: Wheat and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,373 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Whole Wheat 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.

Make the sponge

  1. Mix half of the flour with the water, yeast, shortening, salt, and sugar to form a batter.

  2. Cover and let it rise in a warm place overnight.

Shape and rise

  1. In the morning, knead in the remaining flour to form a stiff dough.

  2. Let the dough rise until it doubles in size.

  3. Shape the dough into loaves and let them rise again until doubled.

Bake and cool

  1. Rub the loaves with melted butter.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.

  3. Turn the loaves on their sides to cool.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  3. Sugar + wheattop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,071 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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 gluten-based structure of the loaves and absorbs the water to build the dough.
Yeast
Ferments the sugars in the dough, producing gas that makes the loaves rise.
Water
Hydrates the flour so gluten can form and dissolves the yeast and sugar.
Shortening
Adds fat that softens the crumb and gives a tender texture.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast and adds a little sweetness and browning in the crust.

The step that matters

Let the dough rise until doubled. Yeast needs time and warmth to produce enough gas to lift the dough. Rising too short leaves dense loaves, while over-rising can collapse the structure and weaken the bread.

“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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