Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓
Brown 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.
Prepare
In a large bowl, combine sour milk, meal, water, flour, molasses, baking soda, and salt, and mix until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Steam and bake
Steam for 2½ hours.
After steaming, bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes.
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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Milk + flourtop 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).
Milk and flour 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
- Sour milk
- Adds moisture and acidity, which reacts with the baking soda to help the bread rise.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the bread together as it sets.
- Molasses
- Adds sweetness, moisture and a dark colour to the bread.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the sour milk and molasses to produce gas that lifts the batter.
The step that matters
Pouring the batter promptly after mixing. Baking soda starts reacting as soon as it meets liquid and acid, so the gas it releases is strongest early. Getting the batter into the greased dish and into the steamer without delay helps it rise evenly rather than losing lift while it waits.
“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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