Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Graham Bread; No. 1
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.
Make the sponge
In a large bowl, combine warm water, brown sugar or molasses, hop yeast, and coarse sea salt.
Thicken the mixture with graham flour until it forms a thin batter.
Stir in more flour until the mixture is quite stiff.
Shape and bake
In the morning, add baking soda and enough flour to make a stiff batter that can be stirred with a spoon.
Transfer the batter into well-greased deep bread pans and let it rise again.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 to 4 hours.
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.
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hop yeast
- Ferments the batter, producing gas that lightens the loaf as it rises.
- Graham flour
- Provides the bulk of the structure and the coarse, nutty body of the loaf.
- Brown sugar or molasses
- Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness, depth and some browning in the crust.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with acidic components in the batter to add extra lift and tenderness.
The step that matters
Adding the baking soda in the morning. Baking soda releases gas only when it meets acid and moisture, so it should be stirred in just before shaping. Added too early, its lift is lost 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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