Name: One Loaf Graham Bread
Ingredients: 3/4 cup graham meal; 1/4 cup wheat flour; 5 cups mixed meal (level full and not pressed in); 2 cups sour milk; 2 tablespoons cream; scant 1/2 cup sugar; 2 teaspoons salt; 2 teaspoons baking soda, dissolved in 2 tablespoons sweet milk or water

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 ↓

One Loaf Graham Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

3/4 cup graham meal
1/4 cup wheat flour
5 cups mixed meal (level full and not pressed in)
2 cups sour milk
2 tablespoons cream
scant 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda, dissolved in 2 tablespoons sweet milk or water

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Mix graham meal and wheat flour thoroughly.
Add the mixed meal, sour milk, cream, sugar, salt, and dissolved baking soda, then mix until well combined.

Rise and bake

Let the dough rise in a warm place for no more than 1 hour.
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for 1.5 hours.

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.

Wheat + milktop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,418 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,373 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

Mixed meal: Forms the bulk of the loaf and gives it its structure and coarse, hearty texture.
Sour milk: Its acidity reacts with the baking soda to produce gas, helping the bread rise.
Baking soda: Reacts with the acidic sour milk to release carbon dioxide, leavening the dough.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown during baking.
Cream: Adds fat and richness, softening the crumb and adding moisture.

The step that matters

Dissolving the baking soda. Baking soda must be fully dissolved before mixing so it reacts evenly with the sour milk. Clumps leave pockets of unreacted soda and uneven rising, so the loaf can be dense in some spots and bitter in others.

“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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One Loaf Graham Bread