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Rye Bread

A yeast-raised rye bread with molasses and cornmeal.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rye and corn work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 182 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Rye Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. Warm 1½ pints of water.

  2. Sift in the white flour.

  3. Add the yeast soaked in a little warm water.

  4. Beat to a smooth batter.

  5. Set in a warm water bath to rise until light.

Make the cornmeal mixture

  1. In a saucepan, bring the remaining 1½ pints of water to a boil.

  2. Stir in the corn meal as you would for mush. Cook for a few minutes.

  3. Pour the cooked corn meal into a mixing bowl.

Mix and shape the dough

  1. When cool enough, add the molasses, salt, and sponge mixture. Mix well.

  2. Add the rye flour. Mix thoroughly.

  3. The dough will be sticky; do not add more flour.

  4. Place the dough in 2 greased 2-quart pans.

  5. Smooth the tops with a wet hand.

  6. Let rise until light or nearly full.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

  2. Turn out and rub the tops with butter.

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. Rye + corntop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together182 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Flour + ryetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + corntop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Molasses + ryetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together804 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

White flour
Forms the gluten network that gives the sponge and dough its structure.
Rye flour
Adds the dense, earthy body characteristic of rye bread, with less gluten to trap gas.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide gas that makes the dough rise until light.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark color, and feeds the yeast.
Corn meal
Cooked into a mush, it adds moisture and softness to the crumb.

The step that matters

Do not add more flour to the sticky dough. Rye dough has little gluten, so it is naturally sticky. Extra flour dries the crumb and makes the loaf dense, while moisture keeps it tender.

“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 rye bread recipes

Torte 7Indian 6Molasses 5Sourdough 4Graham 3Steamed 3 See all 103 →

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