Brown Bread

Origin

Boston brown bread — a dark, dense, moist bread made from rye flour, cornmeal, whole wheat flour, molasses, and buttermilk, steamed (not baked) in a covered mould or a tin can for 2-3 hours — is the traditional accompaniment to Boston baked beans and one of the most unusual breads in American cooking. The steaming technique produces a bread with no crust — uniformly moist, dense, and dark throughout, with a flavour dominated by the molasses and the earthiness of the rye and cornmeal. The bread's origins are Puritan: steaming required less fuel than baking (important in a New England winter), and the grain combination (rye, corn, wheat) used the three grains most available in colonial New England. The practice of steaming in a tin can — a 1-pound coffee can, greased and filled two-thirds full — became the standard home method and persists today.

Description

A cylindrical, dark brown bread — the shape of the can or mould it was steamed in — with a uniform, moist, cakelike crumb, no crust, and a deep molasses-rye-corn flavour. When sliced into rounds and served alongside baked beans, the bread is slightly sweet, earthy, and dense enough to absorb the bean sauce without falling apart.

The Thread

• British steamed pudding (the technique ancestor — suet puddings steamed in a mould)
• Chinese *mantou* (steamed bread — different grains, same steaming principle)
• The steamed bread tradition is less common globally than baked bread but appears in any culture with a steaming infrastructure

Flavour Context

Baked beans (AM2-04). Always. The brown bread absorbs the bean sauce and the combination of the molasses-rye-corn bread with the molasses-pork-beans is a flavour loop: the same sweetness and earthiness reinforced from two directions.

Key Principles

1) Three grains: rye flour, cornmeal, and whole wheat flour in equal parts. The combination produces a complex, earthy flavour and a dense texture that no single grain achieves.

2) Steaming, not baking — the mould (tin can, pudding mould, or any tall, narrow, oven-safe container) is greased, filled two-thirds, covered tightly with foil, and placed on a rack in a pot with 2-3 inches of simmering water. The pot is covered and the bread steams for 2-3 hours. The result is uniformly moist with no crust formation.

3) Molasses and buttermilk — the molasses darkens the bread and provides the signature sweetness; the buttermilk's acid reacts with baking soda for leavening and adds tang.

4) Raisins are traditional — folded into the batter before steaming.

Pro Tips

B&M canned brown bread — available in grocery stores throughout New England — is a steamed-in-the-can product that is genuinely good and serves as the baseline standard. Homemade is marginally better; the convenience of the canned version is significant.

Brown bread sliced into rounds, spread with cream cheese — the New England afternoon snack.

The bread can be steamed, cooled, unmoulded, and then sliced and lightly toasted on a griddle. The toasting creates a slight crust on the exterior while the interior remains moist. This is the version that converts skeptics.

Common Mistakes

Baking instead of steaming — the result is a different bread entirely. The steaming is the technique.

Removing the cover during steaming — the steam must be trapped to cook the bread evenly. Peeking extends the cooking time.

Not greasing the mould — the dense batter sticks tenaciously to ungreased surfaces.

Source

Fannie Farmer — Boston Cooking-School Cook Book; James Beard — American Cookery