Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the batter
In a large bowl, combine Graham flour, corn meal, sour milk, molasses, and baking soda. Mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased steaming mold.
Steam and finish
Steam for 2½ hours.
After steaming, place the bread in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 15 minutes.
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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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Flour + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Graham flour
- Provides the main structure and wholesome, nutty body of the bread.
- Corn meal
- Adds coarse texture and a grainy bite to the crumb.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the bread rises and stays moist.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk to produce gas that lifts the batter.
The step that matters
Pour the batter into the mold without delay. Baking soda starts reacting with the acidic sour milk as soon as they meet, so gas begins forming right away. Filling the greased mold promptly and steaming without waiting keeps that rise in the batter rather than losing it before the bread sets.
“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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