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Bread

Bran Bread

A quick oven-baked bread made with white and whole wheat flour, bran, dates, molasses, and leavening.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Bran Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare

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

Mix and bake

  1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together until well combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a small bread pan.

  3. Bake for about 1½ hours or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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. Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Wheat + datestop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + datestop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

White flour
Provides the main structure that holds the loaf together as it bakes.
Whole wheat flour
Adds structure and a denser, nuttier texture alongside the white flour.
Egg
Binds the batter and helps set the crumb as it bakes.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the loaf rises and becomes lighter.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deep, dark flavour with some browning.
Dates
Add natural sweetness and moisture, keeping the loaf soft.

The step that matters

Checking for doneness. The loaf is done when a toothpick comes out clean. Because the bake is long and the batter is dense with bran and dates, pulling it too early leaves a gummy, wet centre, while baking too long dries the crumb.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, wheat, egg, milk, molasses):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, wheat, egg, milk, molasses. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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