Anadama Bread

Anadama bread is a traditional bread of New England. It is made with flour, cornmeal and molasses. There are a number of legends about how the bread got its name. It is believed that a New England fisherman was fed up of eating the same bread everyday made by her wife Anna. One day, in a fit of anger he went into the kitchen to make something different to eat. He baked a loaf of bread using the ingredients in the kitchen- all the while muttering, “Anna damn her!”

According to another legend, Anna, fisherman’s wife fed him cornmeal porridge sweetened with molasses. One day, the fisherman when came home, added some flour and yeast to the mush and put it in the oven to bake bread, all the while mumbling, Anna damn her!”

Whatever be the origin of the story, this simple loaf with flour, cornmeal and molasses has become extremely popular in New England.

It is a delicious bread.

I read the recipe of Anadama bread here, here and here. However, I finally baked one from kingarthurflour.com

Some changes had to be made keeping in mind the availability of the ingredients and also keeping in mind our taste preferences. Molasses was replaced by honey. I omitted milk powder and used olive oil instead of butter. I also required a little more water than mentioned in the recipe. So, here goes my Anadama Bread recipe-

Anadama Bread

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup yellow cornmeal

2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup honey

1 cup boiling water plus ½ cup warm water

Method

Whisk together cornmeal and salt. Mix oil and honey. Add boiling water. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.

Add all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and instant yeast. Knead well. If the dough feels dry add warm water to get smooth soft dough.

Knead the dough for 6 to 8 minutes. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

Deflate the dough, knead further for 5 minutes.

Grease a bread tin (8 inch x 3 ½ inch) and dust with cornmeal.

With the help of a rolling pin or with hands, stretch out the dough , no wider than the loaf pan you are using.

Roll the dough towards you, tightly. Pinch seams to seal.

Place the roll in the greased loaf tin with the seam side down. Cover and keep it to rise for 1 hour or until the center has crested at least 1 inch above the lip of the pan.

Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degree C for about 25 to 30 minutes till the top turns golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.

Remove from the tin after 5 minutes, transfer to the rack to cool.

Sending to food events-

Yeastspotting

Bake Fest #21 conceptualized by Vardhini, hosted by Sweet 'n' Savoury

Healthy me &Healthy us conceptualized by Priya, hosted by Annarasa