Why it works: Wheat and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Brown Bread
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the batter
In a bowl, mix the Graham flour, wheat flour, and yellow cornmeal.
Stir in the molasses until well combined.
Dissolve the baking soda in the sweet milk and add it to the mixture.
Add the salt and mix until smooth.
Steam and serve
Pour the batter into a greased pan and steam for three 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Flour + wheattop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,373 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,429 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,243 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the molasses's acidity to produce gas, helping the bread rise and lighten.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, dark colour, moisture and a rich flavour to the bread.
- Graham flour
- Provides the coarse bran and wholegrain body that gives the bread its hearty texture.
- Wheat flour
- Supplies gluten-forming protein that gives the batter structure and a tender crumb.
- Yellow cornmeal
- Adds grainy texture and a slightly sweet corn flavour to the batter.
- Sweet milk
- Hydrates the flours and dissolves the baking soda, supplying moisture for the batter.
The step that matters
Dissolve the baking soda in the sweet milk. Baking soda must be fully dissolved so it reacts evenly through the batter; clumps leave bitter, unevenly risen spots. It needs acid from the molasses to react, so it should be combined with the batter promptly.
“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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