Why it works: Rye and molasses work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 804 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
My Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the rye meal, Indian meal, salt, and cream of tartar together in a large bowl.
Dissolve the baking soda in the tepid water and add it along with the molasses to the dry ingredients. Stir until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a suitable steaming dish.
Steam
Steam over a kettle of boiling water for 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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Rye + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together804 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cream + molassestop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,408 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Rye + creamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together150 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rye meal
- Forms the bulk of the bread and gives it its dense, hearty structure.
- Indian meal
- Adds coarse texture and body, helping the loaf hold together after steaming.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark color, and moisture to the loaf.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the mixture to produce gas that lightens the loaf.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with the baking soda to help the bread rise.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda in the tepid water before adding it. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it mixes evenly with the acid in the batter; undissolved pockets can cause uneven rising and patchy texture or taste.
“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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