Boston Brown Bread or brown bread in a can, is an old American steamed bread, moist and flavored with rye, molasses and raisins. I grew up enjoying the wonderful flavor of Boston brown bread; my grandmother would purchase the bread in cans from the grocery store and serve it sliced for lunch. When I found this old recipe for Boston Brown Bread I decided I had to try and make it myself. Before you try to make brown bread in a can you need to find two coffee tins. Make sure they are full size coffee cans and the heavier the better. I had two coffee cans, one was smaller and it was failure. The can tipped over halfway through and the bread did not come out! the other loaf worked perfectly.
Boston Brown Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup rye flour
½ cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. making powder
1 tsp. Salt
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup dark molasses
1 cup raisins
Directions:
Before you begin to mix the ingredients together to make the batter, get the pots ready you are going to steam the bread in in ready and grease the sides and bottoms of two empty one pound coffee cans. The cans should stand on a rack so the water can circulate freely around the bottom, If you don’t have an extra rack you can stand the cans on mason jar lids. The pot must have a lid on top so the steam doesn’t escape. Fill the pot with enough water to come halfway up the sides of the coffee cans. Start heating the water to bring it to a boil while you prepare the bread batter.
Put the flour, whole wheat, and rye flours and the cornmeal into a large mixing bowl. Stir wit a large spoon to mix well. Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and stir to blend into the flours. Add the buttermilk and molasses, and briskly stir to blend everything thoroughly. Stir I the raisins. Pour the batter into the two well-greased cans, dividing it evenly between them.
Each can will be about half-full. Uses a double layer of aluminum foil to snuggly cover the tops and secure the foil with rubber bands.
Put the cans into the pot when the water is boiling, and cover the pot with a lid. Check occasionally to make sure there is enough water and that the water is boiling. Steam the breads for 2 hours. Remove the cans and take off the foil,
then shake them upside down so the breads will slide out of the cans onto a rack. Let cool slightly before serving.
I wish my grandmother were still alive so that I could serve her my homemade brown bread in a can. It tastes as good as I remember!
Nancy on the Home Front 
My Gram used to make this…it seems like her recipe used graham flour. But it was the best! Thank for the reminder…I’ll have to make this again soon. 🙂
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Lisa Lynn,
I have never cooked with graham flour but I’ll best the bread was delicious!
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It was! My maternal grandmother baked to support her family after her first husband passed away…she had a lot of wonderful recipes!
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Again….I am back in my grandma’s kitchen. We would eat this all the time. No one around me knows what this is. I may have to make this and show them! #happynowblog
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Sat. night was baked beans, franks, potato salad and brown bread. My aunt made it in coffee tins from the 40’s and oh the smell in that house was devine!! =)
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Jean,
Eating this bread takes me back to my childhood! Although I think the bread my grandmother served did’t have raisins in it!
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Yes! My Grandma used to make this too and I always loved it. Yum.
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I remember doing this in my younger years. I had forgotten all about it!! Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner party! Hope to see you back tomorrow.
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Your Brown Bread in A Can looks awesome! Hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for sharing with us at Full Plate Thursday and come back to see us real soon!
Miz Helen
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I have never heard of baking bread in a can! And where these days would you find a coffee can, aren’t they all plastic now? I wonder if you could make smaller ones in a large veggie can? Shared x 4 ♥
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Grammy Dee,
It’s not easy to find metal coffee cans but they are out there! I think you could also make four smaller loaves using large veggie cans.
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My grandmother baked a brown bread but it didn’t have raisins in it. I will need to find cans to bake this in it sounds so good.
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Victoria,
It is hard to find metal coffee cans! I collect them! I think you could also use a four large cans to replace the coffee cans. This bread would be equally good without the raisins and the taste improves the next day! 🙂
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Oh my gosh! I haven’t seen this in years. This was the best bread – thanks for bringing it back! and Thanks for sharing at the What’s for Dinner link up!
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