Skip to main content
Bread

Sweet Brown Bread

A sweet rye bread made with molasses or brown sugar, Indian meal, Graham flour, and potato yeast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Sweet Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the dough

  1. In a large bowl, mix the rye flour, Indian meal, Graham flour, molasses or brown sugar, potato yeast, and a pinch of salt.

  2. Gradually add warm water to form a stiff dough that can be stirred with a spoon.

  3. Cover the dough and let it rise for several hours or overnight.

Bake

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

  2. Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in a baking pan.

  3. Bake for 5 to 6 hours until cooked through.

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. Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,320 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Rye + potatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Flour + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 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. Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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 flour
Provides the main structure of the loaf, with a dense, dark crumb.
Indian meal
Adds bulk and a coarse, grainy texture to the loaf.
Graham flour
Contributes a nutty flavour and a more open, hearty texture.
Molasses or brown sugar
Adds sweetness, moisture and a deeper colour to the crust and crumb.
Potato yeast
Ferments the dough so it rises and develops flavour during the long rest.

The step that matters

Long, slow bake. Dense rye and cornmeal doughs need a low oven and a long bake so the centre sets fully without the crust burning. Undercooked centres stay gummy and heavy.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Beetrootfits better
  2. Arrowrootfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rye, flour, 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.

You might also like

Potato BreadPotato Bread124 recipesCornbreadCornbread345 recipesBread PuddingBread Pudding336 recipesMilk Bread RollsMilk Bread Rolls242 recipes