Why it works: Ginger and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Ginger Bread
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, molasses, sour milk, and sour cream until well combined.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, and baking soda.
Make and bake the batter
Dissolve the baking soda in a small amount of boiling water, then add it to the wet ingredients.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, stirring until just combined.
Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Molasses
- Adds dark color, moisture and a deep, slightly bitter sweetness characteristic of gingerbread.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that sets the crumb as the batter bakes.
- Sour milk
- Its acidity reacts with the baking soda so the cake rises and turns tender.
- Sour cream
- Adds fat and acidity, contributing moisture and a tender, rich crumb.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acidic sour milk and sour cream to produce gas that leavens the batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps browning and a moist texture in the crumb.
The step that matters
Stirring the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Once flour meets liquid, gluten begins to form, so stirring only until just combined keeps the gingerbread tender rather than tough and dense.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, molasses, milk, cream, flour, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, molasses, milk, cream, flour, cinnamon. 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.
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