Boston Brown Bread Baking CANS?

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Dragnlaw, I have it! I looked in my 1967 Joy of Cooking. It is a reprint of the 1962 editon. So, thanks.

Now I need to make a trip to the bulk food store/co-op for some different flours. I have cornmeal.

I haven't opened a JOC for a long time. It's telling me it's feeling neglected. They do have a lot of good recipes and a lot of useful info.
 
Like a good New Englander, I made Boston Baked Beans every Saturday for supper. And of course you have to have Brown Bread minus the raisins with them. But I was reluctant to make it from scratch in case the kids didn't like it. So I bought a can of it and heated it up in the oven. I kept the can for 'just in case.' Well, the kids love the Brown Bread. I used the can that it came in for making my own. It was the perfect size to feed four kids. They even loved the fact that the Brown Bread made in the original can had the lines on it. I don't remember the recipe, but come every Saturday morning, while the beans soaked, I made the Brown Bread and made sure to leave enough room for the bean pot. It seemed the Brown Bread took longer to cook than the beans.
 
Good on you Addie! I do remember that the cans we baked these tea breads in had ridges. Whether from cans of baked beans or something else. Not sure but think it was fairly common to have the ridges.

Whiska - think I mentioned a couple of years ago, my mom's book that I remember first had a green hard cover (think my sister scoffed it... :mad:). It had recipes for squirrel, raccoon, etc. Must have been from the 40's? or even the mid 30's when she was married.

Glad you found it!
 
We used to use soup cans or vegetable cans to bake Boston Brown Bread.

But what can one use today? I don't think there is a bit of tin in a tin can.

I tried doing the google search, and Williams Sonoma websites. They sell lots of specialty bakeware. Didn't find.

Some recipe links say to use a coffee can, but I'm looking for something with a smaller diameter.

Also, do you bake Boston Brown Bread in the oven or is it steamed?

Thanks.

I make boston brown bread in the oven - it's a favorite here. I use a stainless container like the sort used for dressing at a salad bar or a steamtable drop in but an 11 oz coffee can would also work.

Heres a link to one: https://www.katom.com/158-80113.html

Here's my recipe for 4 cans of bread:
Preheat Oven to 325 degrees.
Butter the cans and place a round of parchment in the bottom of each can.

1 3/4 C fine cornmeal
2 1/4 C whole rye flour
2 C whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp allspice
Currents if you like 'em

2 1/2 C buttermilk
2 3/4 C blackstrap molasses
5 eggs


  • Mix dry ingredients in a bowl
  • In another bowl, add all the wet ingredients and whisk.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet; mix until just incorporated. Be careful not to over-mix, the mixture should be the consistency of a thick pancake batter.
  • Evenly fill the 4 cans (about 3/4 full for each can); whack the cans onto the table to level the batter.
  • Place can onto a rimmed baking sheet (mess prevention).
  • Bake 40 minutes. Test the bread by inserting a cake tester; it should come out clean. If not, bake 5 to 10 minutes more.
  • Remove cans from the oven; allow to cool, 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the breads; slide the loaves from the cans. Cool completely.
------

I have wondered about using straight sided canning jars for this but have never screwed up the courage to try.
 
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This is an old thread I know, but I just found it! I remember my Aunt years ago would make this during the Holidays, it was delicious! But, she always told me (I was maybe 10 years old) you have to use the cans that are "gold" inside. Nothing else was right. I wish I remembered what came in those cans.... Beans? Corn? I remember helping her grease the tins and putting the batter in them. But, I don't remember anything else other than eating the deliciousness! Anybody here have any memories about those cans? I can't even ask her as she passed away about 15 years ago. All the other family members I've asked all told me she took that secret to her grave.
 
Well, you've struck a bell with me JustALittleCooker. I too remember the cans being gold/yellow inside, but if I remember "correctedly" weren't they all that colour inside back in the 50's?
 
you can bake Boston Brown Bread in anything from a pie pan to a pressure cooker.

people use "cans" because commercially the batter is put into cans, sealed, baked in the can...
 
Welcome to the forum, @JustALittleCooker!

I still have some of those jars in my basement, some rusted a little. I used to bake rye bread in them all the time, different ones (mostly coffee cans, until they stopped using that), depending on what I was eating on them, as many circular lunchmeats fit on them perfectly.
 
Well, you've struck a bell with me JustALittleCooker. I too remember the cans being gold/yellow inside, but if I remember "correctedly" weren't they all that colour inside back in the 50's?
No, they weren't. Don't you remember the ones with zinc? You could see the large, flat, sort of fan shaped crystals. You could see them especially well if you left some pineapple in the can after it was opened. :ermm: :ROFLMAO:
 
Yeah, I remember that too taxy. LOL but most canned goods were not as acidic a pineapple. Peas, Green Beans, Creamed corn, niblets, etc. You didn't see that in those.
Can't remember the cans we used for those breads. But I also now realize that many tea breads were baked in those cans. I actually don't remember "boston-brown-bread" perse.
I can't find my Joy of Cooking books since moving. The older books had excellent diagrams showing the use of cans to do tea breads.
 
Yeah, I remember that too taxy. LOL but most canned goods were not as acidic a pineapple. Peas, Green Beans, Creamed corn, niblets, etc. You didn't see that in those.
Can't remember the cans we used for those breads. But I also now realize that many tea breads were baked in those cans. I actually don't remember "boston-brown-bread" perse.
I can't find my Joy of Cooking books since moving. The older books had excellent diagrams showing the use of cans to do tea breads.
You quoted from them at the beginning of this thread.
 
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