Anadama Bread
Anadama bread is a traditional dark yeast bread of New England made with wheat flour, cornmeal and molasses.
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Makes: 1 loaf
| Ingredients
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Instructions
- Place the water, butter and molasses in a pan. Heat with stirring until the butter has all melted.
- Add in the cornmeal and salt and stir well. Bring gently to the boil with stirring, then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Once the mixture has cooled to just above room temperature you can add in the dried yeast, mix and allow to stand for 10 minutes for the yeast to activate.
- Mix the flours in a large bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the liquid mixture. Mix to a sticky dough.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 10 minutes until elastic. Sift on a little more flour from time to time to make the dough workable.
- Place the dough in a lightly-greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to double in size.
- Turn the dough out and knock back. Knead for 2-3 minutes.
- Place the dough in a lightly-greased 1½ litre (6 cup) loaf tin and place in a large plastic bag. Leave in a warm place until the dough has risen above the rim of the tin by at least ½" (1½ cm). NOTE: This may take 3-4 hours!
- Slash the top of the loaf a few times and bake at 180°C/360°F fan oven, 200°C/400°F conventional oven for 15 minutes, then bake at 165°C/330°F fan oven, 180°C/360°F conventional oven for a further 30 minutes.
- Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Notes
The dough is sticky from the molasses and a bit tricky to knead but gentle applications of extra flour during the first kneading will help. Try not to add more than 3-4 tbsp of extra flour, and do not be tempted to add extra flour during the second kneading.
The bread freezes well and is best served warm or as toast. I prefer to eat it with jams and marmalades but I'm told it goes well with butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
The bread dates from 19th century Massachusetts. There is a legend surrounding the creation of the recipe which goes something like this...
A New England woman named Anna provoked her husband — some say through laziness, others say from baking the same bread daily, or for not finishing her bread-baking. The husband either threw a bag of cornmeal at her and missed, but spilled it into the dough; or he grabbed cornmeal instead of flour and tried to finish her bread. He muttered, "Anna, damn her!"
The bread freezes well and is best served warm or as toast. I prefer to eat it with jams and marmalades but I'm told it goes well with butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon.
The bread dates from 19th century Massachusetts. There is a legend surrounding the creation of the recipe which goes something like this...
A New England woman named Anna provoked her husband — some say through laziness, others say from baking the same bread daily, or for not finishing her bread-baking. The husband either threw a bag of cornmeal at her and missed, but spilled it into the dough; or he grabbed cornmeal instead of flour and tried to finish her bread. He muttered, "Anna, damn her!"
