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Bread

Brown Bread

A sweet raisin bread made with molasses, buttermilk, and graham flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Brown Bread

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 ↓

Brown Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

Mix and bake

  1. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, buttermilk, molasses, melted butter, white flour, graham flour, salt, eggs, baking soda, and chopped raisins until well combined.

  2. Fill baking pans about ¾ full with the batter.

  3. Cover with lids and bake for 1 hour.

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.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Buttermilk + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Buttermilk + molassestop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together526 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

White flour
Provides the main structure that holds the loaf together as it bakes.
Graham flour
Adds coarse texture and a hearty, nutty body to the crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic buttermilk or sour milk to produce gas that lifts the loaf.
Buttermilk or sour milk
Supplies moisture and acidity that activates the baking soda for rising.
Eggs
Bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the oven.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark color and a deep sweetness to the bread.

The step that matters

Filling the pans about ¾ full. Baking soda starts producing gas as soon as it meets the acidic buttermilk, so the batter rises in the oven. Leaving room in each pan gives the loaf space to expand without overflowing or cooking unevenly.

“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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