Pioneer
Steamed Brown Bread
Aida Boyer McAnn — The New Brunswick Cook Book (1938)A classic New Brunswick steamed brown bread of white flour, graham flour, and corn meal sweetened with molasses — steamed for three and a half hours in a covered tin. The 1938 cookbook recommends serving it alongside baked beans.
Ingredients
- 1 cup white flour
- 1 cup graham flour
- 1 cup corn meal
- ¾ teaspoon soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup molasses
- 1¾ cups sweet milk
Instructions
- Mix and sift together the flours, corn meal, soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the molasses and milk and mix all together thoroughly.
- Grease a can (an old baking powder or coffee can works well) and a lid that fits tightly. Fill about three-quarters full and lay on the cover.
- Steam for 3½ hours. Then remove the covers and bake the bread for 10 minutes to dry it off.
- If the bread seems likely to crumble, do not try to cut it — tie a string around the loaf and cut slices by pulling the ends of the string.