Name: Steamed Brown Bread
Ingredients: 1 cup white flour; 2 cups graham flour; 2 cups cornmeal (Indian meal); 1 teaspoon baking soda (or baking powder if using sweet milk); 1 cup molasses; 3½ cups milk; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Flour and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Steamed Brown Bread

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Mix the batter

In a large bowl, mix the white flour, graham flour, cornmeal, baking soda, and salt.
Add the molasses and milk, and beat well until combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased mold and steam for 4 hours.
If using sweet milk, substitute baking powder for the baking soda.

Finish and serve

After steaming, place the bread in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 15 minutes to brown.
Serve warm with butter.

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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + molassestop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Graham flour: Provides the coarse, hearty structure and nutty flavour that define this brown bread.
Cornmeal: Adds body and a grainy texture that helps the loaf hold together after steaming.
White flour: Supplies gluten for structure, keeping the steamed loaf from crumbling.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic molasses to produce gas that lightens the loaf.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, dark colour and moisture, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Milk: Hydrates the flours to form a batter and adds moisture and richness.

The step that matters

Steaming the batter. The loaf rises and sets through steam, so the mold must stay sealed and the water must keep boiling. If steam escapes or the water runs low, the bread can come out dense and gummy.

“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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Steamed Brown Bread