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Bread

Barley Bread

A yeast‑free bread made with barley meal, rye flour, milk, molasses, baking powder, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Barley and rye share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 66 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓

Barley Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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 batter

  1. Sift the dry ingredients together.

  2. Add the milk and molasses, and mix well.

  3. Beat the mixture until smooth.

  4. Turn into a greased bread pan and let stand for 15 minutes.

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 50 minutes.

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. Barley + ryetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together66 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + ryetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together918 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Barley + flourtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together582 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Barley + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Barley meal
Provides the main body and earthy flavor of the loaf, though it lacks gluten to hold a firm crumb.
Rye flour
Adds some structure and a tangy, dense crumb to the bread.
Baking powder
Releases gas during baking so the batter rises into a lighter loaf.
Milk
Hydrates the flours and keeps the crumb moist.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark color and moisture to the loaf.

The step that matters

Beat the mixture until smooth. Thorough beating fully hydrates the flours and evenly distributes the baking powder, so the loaf rises evenly and has a uniform texture rather than pockets of dry flour or uneven gas bubbles.

“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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