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Bread

Whole-Wheat Bread No. 1

A yeast-leavened whole wheat bread made with milk, molasses, and shortening, baked at 350°F.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and milk 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 No. 1

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Dissolve the yeast in a little warm water.

  2. Sift and warm the flour, then work in the shortening.

  3. Add the milk, molasses, and salt, and mix well with a spoon or your hands.

  4. The dough will be too soft to knead; mix or beat it instead.

  5. Let the dough rise overnight.

Shape and bake

  1. In the morning, mix well again.

  2. Put the dough into two greased bread pans, cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour or until it reaches the tops of the pans.

  3. Bake for 1¼ hours in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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.

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. Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  2. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Whole wheat flour
Forms the bulk of the structure, and its bran and germ make the crumb denser than white flour bread.
Yeast
Produces gas as it ferments, lifting the dough during rising.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, and its proteins help browning on the crust.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color, and flavor, and feeds the yeast.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderizes the crumb and softens the texture.

The step that matters

Letting the dough rise overnight and then again in the pans. Whole wheat flour is heavy and its bran slows gluten development, so the dough must rise fully until it reaches the pan tops. Underproofed loaves stay dense, while overproofed ones may collapse.

“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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