Graham's Brown Bread

This is Boston brown bread, and it’s not baked. It’s steamed. The batter goes into greased coffee cans, gets sealed with buttered foil, and sits on a rack in a covered pot of simmering water for three full hours.

The result is unlike any bread you’d pull from an oven. Dense, moist, slightly sticky, and deeply flavored from three different grains: cornmeal, rye flour, and whole wheat flour. Dark molasses and buttermilk give it that classic brown bread sweetness and tang, while baking soda provides the only leavening. No yeast, no eggs.

Currants studded throughout add pops of fruity sweetness in every slice. The bread slices best when fully cooled, but tradition says to serve it warm with butter and baked beans.

Pro Tips

• Grease the coffee cans thoroughly or the bread will stick and tear when you unmold
• Tie the foil covers tightly. Steam escaping through loose foil means a dry top
• Weight the pot lid down so it seals firmly. Consistent steam is what cooks the bread evenly over three hours
• Don’t open the pot for the first two hours. Every peek releases steam and drops the temperature
• Let the bread cool in the cans for 20 minutes before running a knife around the edge to unmold

Variations

• Use raisins instead of currants for plumper, sweeter fruit pockets
• Add ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of ginger to the dry ingredients for spiced brown bread
• Serve toasted slices spread with cream cheese for a New England-style snack