Sometimes you want light, fluffy bread. And sometimes you want the stuff that really sticks to your ribs. This is the latter. It packs a ton of flavor, and a ton of carbs: try some with butter or jam as part of a hearty breakfast before a busy, active day.
Boston brown bread dates back to the early European settlers in the New England area. It’s a simple, hearty, dense, very rich and flavorful quick bread that was made with the ingredients most available at the time: cornmeal, rye flour, whole wheat flour, and molasses. No yeast, and very little rise (the rise it gets is from baking soda interacting with the acid in the buttermilk).
Traditionally, brown bread was cooked by steaming it in cans, instead of baking it in the oven, because in early settler days most people didn’t have ovens — but they could boil a pot of water over a fire. This recipe calls for baking it, but at the end there are some instructions for steaming it if you feel like being a purist (and have a lot of extra time on your hands; honestly, it’s not worth it).
Recipe here.
Enjoy!
Kevin
