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Bread

Boston Brown Bread

A dense, molasses‑sweetened rye and cornmeal bread baked by steaming.

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 ↓

Boston Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix and sift the dry ingredients together.

  2. Add the molasses and milk; stir until well combined.

Steam

  1. Pour the mixture into a well buttered mold, filling it no more than two-thirds full.

  2. Steam for 3½ hours.

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. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Rye + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,165 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rye meal
Adds a dense, hearty structure and a mild, earthy flavor to the bread.
Corn meal
Gives the bread a coarse, crumbly texture and a slightly sweet corn flavor.
Graham flour
Adds body and a nutty, wholesome flavor while helping the crumb hold together.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in sour milk to produce gas, lightening the dense batter.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, moisture and a deep, caramel-like flavor.

The step that matters

Filling the mold no more than two-thirds full. Batter leavened by baking soda expands as it steams and rises. Overfilling leaves no room for expansion, which can cause the bread to spill out or turn out dense and misshapen.

“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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