Anadama Bread

This is the recipe I have used for years. I have also seem recipes that replace about 1/4 of the bread flour with rye flour, which would make sense given it’s New England origin where we can grow rye more easily than we can grow wheat. This recipe is rather big, make four loaves. You can of course cut it in half.

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 4 loaves

Cook Time: 45-50 min  

Ingredients

3/4 cup cornmeal
4 1/2 cups water
2 package dry yeast
1/2 cup molasses
3 Tbsp butter (at room temperature)
1/2 Tbsp salt
8-10 cups bread flour

Directions

Place the cornmeal and 2 1/2 cups water in a pot and simmer, stir until it bubbles and becomes thick. Add the rest of the water to cool the mixture to lukewarm. Mix in the yeast, butter, molasses and salt. Work in enough of the flour to make a rather stiff dough. Let rise in a covered greased bowl until doubled (about an hour).

Grease four 5×9 loaf pans. Sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.

Divide dough into 4 equal pieces, knead and place into pans. Cover and let rise again until double (about 1/2 – 3/4 hour).

Heat the oven to 375°F and bake the breads for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer or knife blade comes out clean.

Let the loaves cool for a few minutes, then turn them out onto racks to continue cooling.

Categories: Breads, Other Breads, Yeast Breads

Submitted by: bunnyruth on February 23, 2011