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Bread

Whole Wheat Bread

A loaf of whole wheat bread made with a yeast sponge, whole wheat flour, and scalded milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sponge

  1. Mix ½ cup lukewarm water, 1 cup white flour, and ½ cake yeast dissolved in ¼ cup lukewarm water to make a sponge.

  2. Cover the sponge and set it in a warm place until it becomes light and foamy.

Make the dough

  1. Add ½ cup scalded milk, cooled to lukewarm, and ½ teaspoon salt.

  2. Mix in enough whole wheat flour to form a stiff dough.

  3. Knead the dough thoroughly and shape it into a loaf.

Rise and bake

  1. Place the loaf in a warm, buttered pan.

  2. Cover the loaf and let it rise until it has doubled in size.

  3. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  4. Bake the bread for 15 minutes.

  5. Lower the oven temperature to 350°F (175°C) and continue baking for 1 hour.

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. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  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

White flour
Forms the starter sponge, feeding the yeast and building early gluten structure.
Whole wheat flour
Adds bulk and structure to the stiff dough, giving the loaf its body and chewier crumb.
Yeast
Ferments the sponge, producing gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
Scalded milk
Adds softness and tenderness to the crumb and a slightly sweet, rich flavour.

The step that matters

Rising the loaf until doubled. Yeast needs enough time in a warm place to produce gas that expands the dough. Underproofed loaves stay dense, while overproofed loaves may collapse in the oven.

“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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