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Bread

Norwegian Bread, for Dyspeptics

A barley and flour bread baked for people with indigestion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Barley and flour work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 582 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Norwegian Bread, for Dyspeptics

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.

Prepare the batter

  1. Sift together the barley meal, Graham flour, all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder.

  2. Mix into a firm batter with the milk.

  3. Pour the batter into a greased tin.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 40 minutes, covering with greased paper for the first 20 minutes.

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. Barley + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together582 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Barley + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Barley meal
Provides the bulk and a dense, hearty crumb with a mild, nutty flavour.
Graham flour
Adds coarse bran and wheat flavour, giving the bread a more rustic texture.
All-purpose flour
Supplies gluten-forming protein that gives the loaf structure and holds it together.
Baking powder
Releases gas when heated, helping the batter rise in the oven.
Milk
Hydrates the flours into a firm batter and adds moisture and some browning from milk sugars.

The step that matters

Covering with greased paper for the first 20 minutes. Covering the loaf early slows surface browning so the centre can cook through and rise before the crust sets. Removing the paper afterward lets the top brown.

“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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