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Bran Bread

A loaf made from bran, flour, sour milk, molasses, and optional raisins.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Bran Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Mix the bran and white flour together in a large bowl.

  3. In a separate bowl, combine the sour milk or buttermilk, salt, and baking soda.

  4. Stir the mixture into the flour until well combined.

  5. Add the molasses and mix until it foams.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan.

  2. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

  3. For variation, add raisins to the batter before baking.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Molasses + raisintop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,577 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Bran
Provides the bulk and fibrous structure of the loaf, absorbing liquid as it bakes.
White flour
Gives the batter enough gluten-forming protein to hold the loaf together.
Sour milk or buttermilk
Supplies the liquid and its acidity reacts with baking soda to help the loaf rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour milk or buttermilk to release gas, lifting the loaf.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep color to the crumb.

The step that matters

Add the molasses and mix until it foams. Baking soda reacts with the acidic sour milk as soon as it is combined, so the batter should go into the pan promptly to keep the gas that lifts the loaf from escaping before baking.

“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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