Boston Brown Bread

 I was perusing a little, spiral bound cookbook titled Slow Cooking for Crock Enthusiasts.

Published in 1982 by G & R Publishing, it is a very unassuming little book.  There is no fanfare with it - once you open the cover pages, the index is next, then the recipes.  There is no author listed, no preface, just a "get down to business" attitude.

The recipes are typical of the very early '80s:  most of the beef recipes are made with ground beef, there are very few "trendy" ingredients, and the recipes are what I associate with solid, midwestern American cooking.  I see beef stew, baked chicken, rice pudding, Swiss steak, stewed tomatoes.  And I saw something that sparked a memory of my childhood:  Boston Brown Bread.

Most likely what I recalled tasting when I was a kid was brown bread from a can.  You can still buy it.  But I had a strong memory of what it tasted and felt like.  I wanted to try this at home.  Would my recall be correct?

Boston Brown Bread  (page 107)

1 cup corn meal

1 cup rye flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup molasses

2 cups buttermilk

Combine all dry ingredients.  Mix together buttermilk and molasses.  Add a little at a time to dry ingredients.  Stir enough to blend.  Place in 2 greased 1-pound coffee cans.  Cover with foil and tie foil down.  Place cans on metal rack in bottom of slow cooker.  Pour 2 cups hot water around cans.  Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Remove from cooker and let stand about 10 minutes before removing from cans.

My Notes

I mixed the dry ingredients in a big bowl and the wet ingredients in a large, glass measuring cup.

That made it easy to pour the wet ingredients into the dry while mixing.

The challenge today is getting metal coffee cans as most brands I've seen use either bags or plastic containers.  Fortunately, I already had some cans from long ago that I saved for such purposes.  They look rusty but once they were cleaned and greased (I used cooking spray), I did not worry about them.

My challenge was realizing the two cans won't fit in my crock pot.  But they did fit in a bigger kettle, with enough room that I could put the lid on the kettle. 

I started heating water in my tea kettle.

A test fit.

After I put half the batter into a can, I decided to add two handfuls of raisins to the other half.  My recall was that I loved the raisins.

Each can was filled to about the same height.  (Whew!)

Raisin on the left.

Then on with the foil and the ties, and into the kettle!  Two cups of water put enough to bring the level up to the bottom of the rack.

You can see the water in the bottom.

After the lid went on, I turned the heat onto medium high until steam started coming out, then I turned the heat down so that the steam was barely coming out.

Every 30 minutes or so I checked on the water level, replenishing with hot water as needed.

After 2 1/2 hours I decided (hoped) it was done.  The cans were removed and set on the counter to cool.  Then I used a narrow spatula to loosen the sides of the bread.  The loaves popped out of the cans easily.

The Verdict

I chose to sample the one with raisins.  Slicing it in the middle gave me a view that matched my recall.  I could see they were cooked all the way through, too.

I ate it plain and also tried it with a little cream cheese.

It tasted exactly as I remembered it!  Sweet from the raisins with a heavy, almost meaty texture or mouthfeel.  Rich with molasses flavor but not overwhelming.  This is a bold bread, not delicate at all.  The cream cheese was a good compliment.

This was easy to make and a good success. I think it would make a good sandwich bread (with or without the raisins) with ham or chicken and cheese, or as a breakfast bread.  But it also makes a good "just as a snack" bread.