Why it works: Flour and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,429 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Graham Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sponge
Make a sponge as for white bread and let it rise until light.
Knead and rise
Mix in white flour, graham flour, Indian meal, and salt.
Knead the mixture and add molasses while kneading.
Form a soft dough and let it rise for 30 minutes longer than white bread.
When doubled in size, knead again and let it rise for the last time.
Bake
Bake in a steady oven.
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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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 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 gluten for structure so the loaf holds its rise.
- Graham flour
- Adds a coarser texture and nutty flavor, and its bran slows gluten development.
- Indian meal
- Adds grainy texture and a slightly sweet corn flavor to the crumb.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture, and color through browning during baking.
The step that matters
Forming the soft dough and its extra rise. Bran in graham flour cuts gluten strands and slows dough rise, so a soft dough with the longer 30-minute rise lets the loaf expand properly.
“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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