Boston Brown Bread

[mindem]

One of the Christmas treats I always looked forward to when I was little is Boston Brown Bread. It is one of those regional victuals that is often an accompaniment to baked beans but is good enough to stand on its own. It's an old thing, a steamed pudding full of molasses, and rye flour, and raisins and other tasty things. The recipe I used was adapted from M. Houghton Whitcomb's, 1892, "Souvenir Cook Book." Boston Brown Breads are often cooked in old tin cans when a mold isn't available; you can't get much homier than that.

[Lefta Dissenter]

1. Looks so delicious!

Will you share the recipe with us?

[samnsara]

2. im in the PNW and we used to have slices of this with school lunch!...

..thanx for reminding me.. will get a can for Xmas. However hubby and I are gonna have to slice it at the local taco van. Sitting in a snowy parking lot xmas day eating tacos and Boston brown bread! waving at all the ppl honking at us! ha! GREAT DAY!!

[HumblePi]

3. B & M Brown bread

The B&M company also makes brown bread the old fashioned way, they cook it right inside the can. I love it even without their famous beans. There's one old-time favorite from my childhood that I like serving as one of my desserts for Christmas and that's Indian pudding served warm with a scoop of french vanilla ice cream. It's addictive and luscious.

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[sinkingfeeling]

8. +100

[mindem]

4. Here is the recipe

Boston Brown Bread
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
1/3 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup raisins
1 Tbs. butter
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Use butter to grease the pudding mold or tin. Sift together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, followed by the milk and molasses, then the raisins. Pour the batter into the greased mold or tin, cover the container with tin foil or the mold lid and tie with a string if necessary to make the mold watertight. Place the mold in a baking pan filled with boiling water enough to submerge about 1/2 of the mold. Steam for 2 hours in the oven making sure to maintain the water level. Check for doneness using a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread.

[Ink Addict]

5. Love mine slathered in cream cheese with a slice of ham sandwiched between!

Ha - I remember this from my childhood as well - we called it the Saturday Special with baked beans and wienies, LOL, or with soup and/or cocoa after a romp in the snow, though I enjoyed it during the holidays with cream cheese and a slice of turkey or ham - Here's a page explaining its history as well as a recipe. Is this the one you used to create that fantastic molded loaf? https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/living/living-food/new-england-classic-brown-bread-rich-history/

[mindem]

6. I used the recipe in an old cook book

and adapted it a little.

[The Polack MSgt]

7. we always took tin cans of Boston Brown Bread camping

Toasted over the campfire with a bit of butter is a treat that still shines in my memory decades later

[MissMillie]

9. I love brown bread

but hold the raisins

[2naSalit]

10. Oh! I miss that stuff!

My mom used to make it when I was really young and the B&M kind was readily available in any store, right next to the beans. It's hard to find around the western states, if anybody's heard of it at all. Heated with a little butter melting in is perfection, New England style. Used to have it like toast for breakfast only it was more filling like a muffin.