Name: Graham Bread
Ingredients: 2½ cups hot liquid (water or a mix of milk and water); ½ cup molasses; 1½ teaspoons salt; ¼ yeast cake, dissolved in ¼ cup lukewarm water; 3 cups all-purpose flour; 3 cups Graham flour

Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Graham Bread

Ingredients

2½ cups hot liquid (water or a mix of milk and water)
½ cup molasses
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ yeast cake, dissolved in ¼ cup lukewarm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups Graham flour

Directions

Make the dough

In a large bowl, combine the hot liquid and molasses.
Add the salt and the dissolved yeast, mixing well.
Gradually stir in the all-purpose flour and Graham flour until a dough forms.

Bake

Prepare and bake as you would for a standard bread recipe.

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.

Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,243 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Milk and flour 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

Graham flour: Adds a coarse, nutty texture and a wholesome, earthy flavour to the loaf.
All-purpose flour: Provides gluten structure so the dough holds its shape and rises well.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, colour and a rich flavour, and helps the crust brown.
Yeast: Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes the bread rise and become light.

“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.