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Whole Wheat Bread

A loaf of bread made with white flour, whole wheat flour, milk, water, salt, and butter for greasing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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. Combine warm water and white flour in a bowl, cover the mixture, and let it sit in a warm place (about 90°F) until light and foamy.

  2. Add scalded milk and salt.

Make the dough

  1. Mix in whole wheat flour to form a stiff dough.

  2. Knead the dough thoroughly.

  3. Place the dough in a warm spot to rise until it doubles in size.

  4. Shape the dough into a loaf.

Bake

  1. Place the loaf in a buttered pan and cover it.

  2. Let the loaf rise again until doubled.

  3. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and bake for 15 minutes.

  4. Lower the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake for an additional 45 minutes.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Wheat + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,002 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Feeds the early warm sponge, which ferments and becomes light and foamy before the dough is built.
Whole wheat flour
Adds the bulk of the dough, giving the loaf its structure and a hearty, nutty flavour.
Scalded milk
Adds richness and softness, giving the crumb a tender texture and a fuller flavour.
Butter
Greases the pan so the loaf releases cleanly and its crust browns evenly.

The step that matters

Knead the dough thoroughly. Kneading develops the gluten network that traps gas from rising, so the loaf holds its shape and rises well. Under-kneaded dough gives a dense, crumbly loaf.

“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.

More whole wheat bread recipes

Unfermented 3 See all 125 →

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