I decided a few days ago that I would do some baking before Christmas. But not the usual stuff (pies and cakes). A bread that I remember from my misspent youth is Anadama bread. It’s a bread which uses not only wheat flour but cornmeal and molasses. There is even a story behind it!
“It took me 2 years of trial and error to get the perfect Anadama recipe and this is it. The culmination of many variations, it makes the best toast, which we serve with our own strawberry jam. Originally the bread was perfected in Maine and eaten by fishermen. The wives would make cornmeal mush for their tired and cold husbands coming off the fishing boats. One day a fisherman tired of just cornmeal mush said to his wife, ‘Anna, damn it, I’m tired of mush – make bread,’ and she did and he called it Anadama bread. How true, I don’t know, but it makes all us Mainers laugh!”–Granes Fairhaven Inn, Bath, Maine
I discovered my bread pans are too small, so the bread didn’t rise as much as it would have in two pans since I had to use three. However, it’s quite tasty and I think it will make lovely toast.
Recipe:
1 cup molasses
1/2 lb margarine
3-1/2 cups water
1 cup cornmeal
7 cups flour, divided into two equal portions
1 tsp salt
2 pkg dry yeast
Bring just to boiling point molasses, margarine, and water. Lower heat to simmer and add cornmeal, whisking as you add slowly. Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool. In large bowl mix all dry ingredients except last 3-1/2 cups flour. Add cooled wet ingredients to dry and beat for 2 minutes. Add last 3-1/2 cups flour and blend with hands. Turn out on floured board and knead for 5 minutes, adding more flour if needed for right bread consistency. Let rise in greased bowl until double; punch down and let rest 5 minutes. Make into 2 loaves and put in two 9×5-inch greased bread pans. Let rise until double again. Bake at 400 degrees F (gas mark 6 for you UKans) for 45-50 minutes. Cool on rack.
Tomorrow I’m going to make “Grapenut Pudding” for Xmas dessert. Another artifact of my youth. It is easier than doing Squash Pie. However, will have to buy lots of milk tonight after dinner.
Did the bread come out good?
I think I would like to try this.
I have been contemplating the purchase of a machine to make gluten-free breads, now that I can no longer consume gluten. That means I couldn’t make this bread.
In addition to the flour, I have problems with using margarine, an invention of Napoleon Bonaparte. Feeding his troops butter was proving costly, so he limited butter to his officers and had lard mixed with annato (Panamanian achiote, a red seed that imparts a yellow color to foods) to make it look like butter and served that to the troops. When I was a kid we used to stir annato into vegetable shortening to make margarine, the pre-colored version not being available during wartime. So I’m well aware that margarine is any old grease colored to make it look like butter that was born in deception. I would rather use butter.
It is very tasty bread; my only problem is that my bread pans aren’t big enough, and I had to divide it into three loaves rather than two. This meant that it didn’t rise as much as it might have. I will be going to the cookware shop on Shaftsbury Avenue to buy a couple of bread pans soon.
I recommend toasting it. It’s slightly sweet and relatively dense.
It’s also a New England traditional bread.
Good luck if you try it and do tell us about your success when you do.
The margarine is to add grease and texture to the bread. It doesn’t add anything to the taste, really. Thus rather than putting more expensive butter in it margarine serves just as well. My family used margarine almost exclusively during my youth and while I have some butter in the fridge I don’t object to margarine. You could use 1/4 cup of corn oil too, if you like–it would have the same effect.
I don’t know whether you could get a gluten-free alternative to wheat flour and corn meal. If you could then you could make this recipe.
Corn meal is no problem: corn doesn’t have gluten. There are a number of gluten-free flour mixes available, some better than others. There seems to be a distinct division between those that use beans and those that don’t, the bean-based flours having a distinct taste and bitterness of its own.
I still consider using margarine to be a form of deception. If you want to use lard, call it lard, which would probably be a good choice. If you’re using vegetable shortening, say so. But leave out the yellow dye and the deceit. My lipid of choice is EVOO, which would probably not be suitable for this recipe. Exotic lipids like coconut butter or walnut oil would probably be a waste, being too delicate and expensive. Besides, my sister had recipes fail when using margarine because of the high water content. When you use an unknown substance like margarine you’re setting a trap for the unwary.