Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, combine the Indian meal, graham flour, white flour, molasses, raisins, baking soda, and buttermilk.
Mix until well combined, adding more buttermilk if needed. Add coarse sea salt to taste.
Steam
Pour the mixture into a greased steaming mold.
Steam for 3½ hours.
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.
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,721 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + buttermilktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together526 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,577 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 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
- Indian meal
- Provides the coarse, sturdy body that gives the bread its characteristic crumb.
- Graham flour
- Adds a nutty, hearty texture and some structure to the batter.
- White flour
- Supplies gluten-forming protein that helps hold the loaf together.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark color to the finished bread.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic buttermilk to produce gas that lightens the loaf.
- Buttermilk
- Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and tang.
The step that matters
Adding buttermilk to the batter. The batter should be wet enough to mix smoothly and steam through, since the flours absorb liquid. Too little buttermilk gives a dense, dry loaf, so add more only as needed until the batter is well combined.
“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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