Anadama Bread

This is another awesome pantry bread.   Who doesn't have cornmeal and molasses gathering dust in a cupboard?

It's a traditional New England recipe with a weird name.  The story goes that the woman of the house never made anything for dinner except cornmeal mush and molasses, so one day the fed up husband stirred some yeast and flour into the leftovers, muttering, "Anna, damn her."    Whatever, dude.  You finally figured it out yourself, which was probably her damn point.


This one can take a little while to raise, and the dough is always a bit stickier than the other versions we've made, which makes sense, because there's a lot of molasses, yo.

• 1/2 cup cooked cornmeal  (or 1/4 cup cornmeal mixed with 1/2 cup boiling water and microwaved for 2 minutes- or you can do this on stovetop; just let it get thick.  Let it cool first so it doesn't kill the yeast.)
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
• 1 tsp salt
• 3-3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp, or 1 packet of yeast.
• My secret ingredient: a dash of vanilla.

In the bottom of your big bowl, bloom your yeast with the water and a bit of molasses.   While you're waiting for the bubbles, mix the cornmeal, butter, salt and molasses (and vanilla) together.   It's nice if this is all slightly warm and the butter melts in.   Add this to the yeast, and mix well.  

Now start adding your flour in batches.   When it's too stiff to stir, turn it out and knead in the last of the flour.  

This one I would use a dough hook on, because it is sticky shit.  Be careful, though.  Use it on a low setting for a minute or two at a time, with periods of rest between additions of flour.   The bread hook, if misused, can make a super tough, dense dough, because you can add more flour than you could by hand.  

Grease the dough, cover, and let rise for at least an hour.   Punch it down and form it into the loaf shape of your choice.  It's okay to make a big old boule at first, and slash the top.  It's easier than a loaf pan.

Sometime, I'll talk about how to form loaves and buns so you don't get weird dog-ears on them.  But I digress.  Brush with egg wash and bake at 375 for at least a half hour.

It's delicious.  That bitch Anna totally had the last laugh.