Why it works: Flour and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,429 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Steamed Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Mix the flour, baking powder, and coarse sea salt in a bowl.
In another bowl, combine the molasses or syrup with water.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Beat the batter well and pour it into a well-oiled shallow pan.
Steam
Cover the pan with an inverted plate or pie pan, leaving room for the bread to rise.
Place the pan in a steamer over boiling water and cover the steamer.
Steam until done, keeping the water at a fast boil and do not lift the lid.
Reheat
To reheat, dip the leftover bread quickly in cold water and place it in a hot oven until heated through.
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.
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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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the bread so it holds its shape after steaming.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the bread rise and turn light and airy.
- Molasses or syrup
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the finished bread.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour and loosens the batter so it can rise and steam through.
The step that matters
Keep the steamer at a fast boil and do not lift the lid. Steam must stay hot and constant; lifting the lid lets steam escape and cools the surface, which can stop the rise and leave the bread dense or gummy.
“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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