Growing up in South Africa, one of my family's favorite baked goods besides Black forest cake was Boston brown bread.  My family loved slices of this molasses-sweetened, hearty bread, lathered with butter! When I decided to develop my own Boston brown bread, I wanted to change 2 things.  It needed to be healthier and more moist without compromising the taste. This sourdough Boston brown bread recipe took a while to develop and I thank my family for being my guinea pigs! They were wonderful taste testers and they sampled a lot!

Traditionally, Boston brown bread is made with cornmeal, flour, molasses, buttermilk and tons of butter to make it moist.  I decided I wanted to replace the buttermilk for kefir and incorporate sourdough to make this a probiotic bomb!  I also wanted to eliminate the butter so it wouldn't be so fattening. To  make it moist and healthy without butter,  I hydrate all the ingredients that absorb moisture first, a trick I learned from years of making South African pap.  This results in a softer, moist end product!  I absolutely love this bread, especially for breakfast!

Tips for making Sourdough Boston brown bread.

Cornmeal and Whole wheat flour

Cornmeal, not corn starch is used.  This coarse grain together with the whole wheat flour requires hydration which will result in a softer texture.  Hydrate the cornmeal, whole wheat flour in kefir when developing the levain.

Raisins

Another trick to keep this sourdough Boston brown bread moist is to soak the raisins in orange juice. If you do make water kefir and feed the kefir with raisins, you can also use raisins from the water kefir.  Obviously, these water kefir raisins will be less sweet than the regular raisins.  To hydrate the raisins, soak them in orange juice at the same time when hydrating the cornmeal and developing the levain.

Molasses

Unsulfured molasses not only provides the dark color to the bread, but also sweetness and moisture.

Sourdough Fermentation

After combining all the ingredients, place the batter in the prepared can and cover the can.  Allow the sourdough to ferment for 8 hours at room temperature.  This uses my sourdough technique to maximize the benefits of sourdough.

Steaming the sourdough Boston brown bread

This sourdough Boston brown bread is steamed in a large can, covered with foil.  Use an empty 28 oz. baked beans or coffee can with a tall stockpot that will hold the can.  Place an upside down trivet in the pot to prevent the can from being in direct contact with the stockpot. Half fill the stockpot with water and bring it to a rolling boil, making sure that there is sufficient water for steaming for one hour.  After the bread it steamed, test for doneness by inserting a skewer into the center of the bread. It should come out clean and not sticky.  Cool the bread on its side before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Serving sourdough Boston brown bread

Traditionally, Boston brown bread was served with Boston baked beans.  It can be served as a side with stews, soups etc.  I prefer it warmed with a little dab of butter.  This makes for an amazing quick breakfast if you're on the run.  Enjoy!