I asked my friend, Marcia, if I could share her recipe for Boston Brown Bread, which is her mom’s recipe. She said yes! Quilters will probably recognize Marcia Hohn from The Quilter’s Cache. The copyright info on that page starts at 1997 so I’m assuming that’s when she started it. So many of my quilts originated from block designs I found at The Quilter’s Cache . . for so many years. That was probably one of the very first quilt sites I found and began using. So . . thank you, Marcia, for that resource, as well as the recipe.
Vince has been toasting a thick slice of the bread and spreading it with cream cheese. Not sure how folks from Boston would feel about that but he’s loving it.
Here’s Marcia’s recipe that she left in a comment on my Facebook page earlier this week:
Marcia’s Mom’s Boston Brown Bread:
1 cup rye flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Mix the dry ingredients together. Stir in:
3/4 cup molasses
2 cups sour milk (that you make by adding vinegar, NOT milk that has gone sour) (Or you could use buttermilk). I did use buttermilk.
Beat well. Fill greased molds. Marcia used old metal coffee cans. I used 1-1/2 pint Mason jars.
Fill 2/3 full. The recipe makes just about 1/4 of a cup too much for the 1-1/2 pint jars. You can see one of mine is running over a bit but I did use all the batter.
Cover with a double layer of waxed paper held on with a sturdy rubber band or baker’s twine). I used foil because I was out of wax paper.
Place on a rack in a large kettle. Fill kettle with water halfway up the sides of the cans/jars. Cover kettle. Place on a burner on the stove top and let stem (gently) for three hours. Check a few times to make sure water stays up where it belongs.
After three hours, take wax paper off and set cans in a warm oven for about 5 minutes to dry off the tops. (When I removed the foil, the tops looked dry enough to me so I skipped this step.)
Slice and eat warm with butter, or wrap well and freeze.
Ours did not make it to the freezer. We loved it.
Liz says
Do you think you could use the Instant Pot to make this bread?
I bought a small bundt pan to use in the pot but I haven’t used the pan yet. It might be fun to try this brown bread recipe in the instant pot. Looking in “Instantly Sweet” cookbook by Barbara Schieving, her cakes use a 25 minute cook time and a 10 minute natural release time. She also has a cornbread recipe on her website (Pressure Cooking Today) that sounds good and it uses a 20 minute cook time/10 minute release.
Judy Laquidara says
Well . . my cornbread recipe takes 20 – 25 minutes to cook in the oven. It’s worth a try. I don’t feel like I have to the IP for everything but for something that takes 3 hours worth of propane, I might try it!
Liz says
I usually decide to oven cook vs stove cook vs Instant Pot based on the heat (want to warm kitchen a bit or not) as well as if I want to watch the stove and oven. This brown bread recipe needing 3 hours of simmering might be one of those that I try with the instant pot. I remember the B & M cans of bread and eating the bread with beans and franks.
Frieda Z says
What does she mean by kettle. What I call a kettle would not hold these cans. Thanks
Judy Laquidara says
Just a big pot with a lid.
Cilla says
How easy was it to remove the Brown Bread from the canning jars? When I purchase brown bread at the grocers I have to remove the bottom lid after heating it then push to remove the bread. Yours looks like it came out without an issue.
Judy Laquidara says
I just ran a long knife around the edges, from top to bottom and the bread slid right out.
Cilla says
Oh, and thank you for posting this and to Marcia. I love Quilters Cache also.
Osage Bluff Quilter says
I was just telling CJ about Marcia’s site a few days ago, when she was searching for 12 inch blocks.
Judy Laquidara says
When I first started seriously quilting, her site was a favorite!
Susan says
Yes, I go there now and then still. I’ve contributed now and then, too. The bread sounds good, though I can’t remember ever having such a thing. I remember brown date nut bread, though.
Tee says
I used to be a block tester for Marcia back in the day. I am sure you can still find my blocks on her site.
Judy Laquidara says
That’s interesting. I’ll bet they are still there! You are part of quilting history!