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Bran Bread

A yeast‑leavened loaf made with bran, flour, milk, molasses, shortening, sugar, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Molasses and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Bran Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Cool the scalded sweet milk to lukewarm.

  2. Dissolve the yeast, molasses, and sugar in it.

  3. Add the bran. Mix well.

  4. Warm the flour.

  5. Add about half of the flour to the mixture.

  6. Add the melted shortening and salt. Mix well.

  7. Add the remaining flour.

  8. Knead into a firm dough for about 5 minutes.

Rise and shape

  1. Set the dough aside in a warm place, covered.

  2. Allow it to rise until doubled in bulk.

  3. When doubled, press it down.

  4. Let it rise until about triple its original bulk.

  5. Shape into one large or two small loaves.

  6. Place in greased pans. Cover.

  7. Keep in a warm place until the loaves rise to double their original size.

Bake

  1. Bake.

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. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  4. Flour + molassestop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Flour
Provides the gluten network that traps gas and gives the loaf its structure.
Yeast
Produces carbon dioxide during fermentation, making the dough rise and become light.
Bran
Adds fibre and a coarse texture, and absorbs liquid, which firms the dough.
Sweet milk
Supplies moisture and richness, softening the crumb and aiding browning.
Molasses
Feeds the yeast and adds sweetness, colour and a deep, slightly sharp flavour.
Shortening
Adds fat that tenderises the crumb and keeps the loaf soft.

The step that matters

Kneading and the rises. Kneading develops the gluten so the dough can hold gas. Rising in a warm place lets yeast produce enough carbon dioxide to double and then triple the dough, so the loaf stays light rather than dense.

“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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