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 ↓
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 dough
Stir Indian meal into boiling water and let it boil for a few minutes.
Add molasses, salt, milk, and water, alternating with the flour.
Stir until the mixture is stiff.
When lukewarm, add yeast and mix well.
Rise and bake
Place the dough in deep pans and let it rise until light.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) like other bread.
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.
-
Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
-
Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Molasses + milktop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Milk and flour 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
- Indian meal
- Cornmeal thickens the batter and gives the bread its coarse texture and colour.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness and a deep brown colour, and helps the crust brown in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, softening the crumb.
- Wheat flour
- Provides gluten structure that traps gas and gives the loaf its body.
- Yeast
- Ferments the dough, producing gas that makes the bread rise until light.
The step that matters
Add the yeast when the mixture is lukewarm. Yeast is killed by high heat, so adding it to a hot mixture can stop the rise. Cooling to lukewarm lets the yeast survive and start fermenting the dough.
“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 brown bread recipes
You might also like
Wheat Bread65 recipes
Whole Wheat Bread55 recipes
Barley Wheat Bread6 recipes
Cornbread345 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.