Self-quarantine'd with Laurie Colwin's Boston Brown Bread

M

marilynfl

Moderator
My thanks to Richard and Co for forcing me to pull out that rye flour I bought eons ago and promptly forgot about. Along with the flour I forgot which recipe I bought it for and that, in a nutshell, is my brain.

But with the library closed, I've been reading old favorites I own and one is Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin. In one chapter, Laurie is talking about the winter their heating boiler shut down. For warmth, she decided to make baked beans to keep the kitchen oven running. Along with that she made Real Boston Brown Bread.

Her recipe for beans was a little too esoteric, in that there wasn't a single measurable amount. However, the brown bread DID have viable God-given quantities and I happened to have all of the ingredients. In fact, I had three different kinds of corn meal to choose from. This bread is steamed in a deep water bath and I used that funky lidded pudding/cake steamer I found before the holidays. It worked perfectly.

And while my heat was on, I still felt a certain camaraderie with Laurie as we both waited out the quirks life throws at you.

1 C stone-ground yellow or white cornmeal

1 C rye flour

1 C whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 C buttermilk

3/4 C molasses

1-1.5 C raisins

Mix dry with wet and pour into "lavishly buttered 6-cup mold." Fill 3/4 full (no more!)

Cover with pleated wax paper and tie down with rubber band

Place in deep pot with hot water 3/4 up the side of the mold. Bring to a boil, cover and steam for 3.5 hours. Check every so often to refill water up to 3/4 mark.

Marilyn's Notes:

I used Quaker Yellow Corn meal (not stone ground)

Used KA 100% whole grain sprouted wheat flour

In lieu of raisins, used 1 cup of orange-flavored cranberries + 1/2 C chopped dates

I checked the bread at 2 3/4 hours by probing with wooden pick and touching the top. Stick was dry and top gently popped back up. I pulled it out and the little bugger slide right out of the mold. I think the key word here is "lavishly."

Donated half to local homeless shelter along with pecan bundt cake (today is last day for drop-offs) and 1/4 to elderly neighbors. Going to enjoy some tonight with canned baked beans and chicken sausage.

Thanks Laurie, and enjoy whatever you're cooking in heaven.

https://recipeswap.org/fun/wp-content/uploads/swap-photos/BrownBread.jpg

 
That looks delicious. Would have loved a buttered slice of that with my afternoon tea!

I had to content myself with a slightly stale Lebkuchen. But it was chocolate covered, so all worked out.

 
I used to love brown bread and cream cheese sandwiches.

I have not had one in ages. You may have motivated me to make some again.

Another yummy thing I love made with cornmeal and molasses is Indian Pudding.

 
I read some reviews about this type of bread and one person said they didn't like the crunchiness of

stone ground corn meal (which I have and use for grits), so I went with the finer ground version.

Folks talked about eating it with beans for dinner, grilled with maple syrup for breakfast and toasted, then smeared with cream cheese mixed with canned pineapple for dessert.

I'm sure those thrifty Yankees used it to chalk their homes as well.

 
Can't imagine the fights over your contributions to the shelter. This was one of my faves

of my mom's lunches for us. She always served it with home-baked beans. No raisins in the bread. But really good stuff.

I don't have her recipe so maybe I'll try yours.

 
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