Boston Brown Bread

Can you make bread in a tin can? Yes! Try this recipe for Boston Brown Bread from the Epicurious site. It’s a unique rye bread recipe steamed in a tin can such as a coffee container.

Baking with Rye Flour

Rye flour was previously not in my pantry but I learned that I should bake with it more often. Rye is high in fiber, a good source of magnesium as well as a host of other nutrients.

Quick breads

This bread baked in a tin falls under the category of quick breads– bread recipes baked without yeast. Baking soda is the leavening agent in this bread recipe. Enjoy all of my quick bread recipe collection!

What ingredients are in traditional Boston Brown Bread?

• rye flour
• wheat flour
• cornmeal
• molasses
• baking soda
• salt
• milk
• raisins (optional)

Steamed Boston Brown Bread Recipe

For a rye bread to share today, I settled on this recipe for Boston Brown Bread from the Epicurious site.  It’s a unique bread steamed in a tin can such as a coffee container. Now I’ve seen episodes of cooking shows where the contestants are given a mystery ingredient of “bread in a can” and then challenged to create a tasty dish. I was concerned that baking bread in a can on purpose might not have a great result but I was happily proved wrong.

Boston Brown Bread History

There were many recipes online and nearly all had the same ratio of one part each of rye flour, whole wheat flour and cornmeal. A quick search for a history lesson taught me that rye and cornmeal were more widely available at one point and so bakers came up with this mixture of flours for their breads. Tins were a readily accessible vessel and steaming the dough was a method that home bakers could master.

One challenge for me was finding a coffee tin (or any other tin!) that was made from metal– so many of our goods are stored in sturdy cardboard containers.

A bit of luck and a tin can appeared when my relatives who were visiting from England brought some treats and one was a tall tin of crackers. Unfortunately, I wrongly assumed this was a metal tin and didn’t realize my error until I had my ingredients mixed and ready to go.

I proceeded anyway and had no major failures but I would suggest to wrap the bottom half of such a cardboard container in tin foil first to provide a barrier between the water and the cardboard. It was fun to have this round, cylindrical bread for a change.

You’ll notice in the comments below that a reader mentioned that she uses a large, wide-mouthed mason jar as a baking vessel. Using a canning jar (and not any old glass jar) sounds like a good idea. Canning jars are already made to withstand high heat and should be fine in the oven’s heat.

Here are other homemade bread recipes you’ll enjoy:

• Easy Whole Wheat No Knead Bread
• Simple Pita Bread
• Grain Free Nutty Carrot Flatbread
• Molasses Multi-seed Bread

Is this traditional Boston Brown Bread recipe familiar? I’ve love to learn if this is mainly a New England specialty or if its popularity has spread.