Name: Steamed Brown Bread
Ingredients: 1 cup graham flour; 1 cup cornmeal; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup sour milk; 1 cup molasses; 1 tablespoon baking soda; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Flour and milk 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 ↓

Steamed Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

Combine graham flour, cornmeal, all-purpose flour, sour milk, molasses, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, then mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased steaming mold.

Steam

Steam for 3 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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + molassestop 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).

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

Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas, letting the dense batter rise and lighten.
Sour milk: Its acidity activates the baking soda and adds moisture and a slight tang.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and contributes to the bread's rich flavour.
Graham flour: Provides the coarse, hearty texture and nutty flavour of the bread.
Cornmeal: Adds a grainy texture and helps give the bread its structure and body.
All-purpose flour: Supplies gluten and structure so the steamed loaf holds its shape.

“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.