Boston Brown Bread

Think of the texture of pound cake without the sweetness

This is a great bread for breakfast or barbecue or by itself. It is a very dense bread as well so a little goes a long way.

Normally Boston Brown Bread is cooked in an old metal coffee can but it seems my collection has disappeared since a recently kitchen clean out. It works just as well in loaf pans. It is steamed in the oven so have a good amount of time on hand to cook this. The below recipe makes two loaves.

Boston Brown Bread

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 1 cup rye flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup dark molasses
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease two loaf pans or old metal coffee cans. Mix cornmeal, rye flour, baking soda and salt. Add whole wheat flour and mix again. In another bowl, beat molasses, vanilla and buttermilk together. Add to dry ingredients and mix into thick batter. Fill each pan or can about two-thirds full. Cover with a sheet of foil and tie it tightly with baking twine. Place containers in a large baking pan and fill with boiling water to about 1/2 way up the containers. Steam in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven and check to see if a toothpick passes cleanly through the loaves. If it doesn’t, steam up to another 30 minutes. Remove from water, uncover and place on a a rack to cool for 1 hour before removing from containers.