Why it works: Rye and corn work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 182 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. 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.
Mix the batter
In a large bowl, mix the rye meal, corn meal, flour, molasses, and baking soda.
Add cold water gradually to form a stiff batter.
Bake
Transfer the batter to a covered tin dish.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 2.5 hours.
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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Rye + corntop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together182 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,320 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 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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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together804 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
- Rye meal
- Adds a dense, hearty structure and a distinctive earthy flavour to the loaf.
- Corn meal
- Adds coarse texture and body, giving the bread its grainy crumb.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main gluten-based structure that holds the stiff batter together as it bakes.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and contributes to browning in the oven.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidity in molasses to produce gas that lightens the loaf.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water gradually. Water hydrates the flour and meals gradually, so the batter sets to a stiff, even consistency. Adding it all at once can make the batter too wet or leave dry pockets of flour.
“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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