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Dessert

Cream Ginger Bread

A sweet, moist bread made with sour cream, sour milk, molasses, and ginger.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger 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 ↓

Cream Ginger Bread

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the batter

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix sour cream, sour milk, sugar, and molasses.

  3. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger.

  4. In a separate bowl, beat the yolks of the eggs and add sugar, milk, and butter.

  5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, mixing well.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan.

  2. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks add richness and help bind the batter into a tender crumb.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acidic sour cream and sour milk to produce gas that lifts the bread.
Sour cream
Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity activates the baking soda.
Molasses
Adds moisture, dark colour and the characteristic gingery sweetness.
Butter
Adds fat for a soft, tender texture and rich flavour.
Flour
Provides the structure that holds the bread together as it sets.

The step that matters

Combine the wet and dry ingredients, mixing well. Mixing develops gluten in the flour, which gives structure. Stir until just combined and the batter is smooth, since overmixing can make the bread tough, while undermixing leaves dry pockets of flour and uneven rising.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, milk, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, egg, butter):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, milk, sugar, molasses, cinnamon, egg, butter. 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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