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Why It Works
- Using a cornmeal porridge instead of dry cornmeal as the base of the dough keeps the bread from having a sandy or gritty texture.
- Brushing the baked loaf with butter when it’s still warm softens the crust and gives it a glossy sheen.
New Englanders have a long tradition of transforming simple, thrifty ingredients into cozy, hearty fare. Anadama bread, the classic New England loaf, is a great example of this type of cooking. It uses pantry staples—in this case, flour, cornmeal, and molasses—in a creative way to make a hearty multi-purpose bread that’s great as a table bread or for sandwiches.
Growing up in Maine, I often enjoyed anadama bread dining out with my family—it was a bread basket-staple at family-style restaurants there. I’ve always loved the sweet flavor and slightly nubbly texture of anadama bread on its own, and it’s even better when toasted and slathered with salted butter, so I was excited to dig into the bread’s history and develop my own recipe for a flavorful, satisfying version of this classic bread.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
Origins of Anadama Bread
In researching the origins of the loaf, I came across many stories of how this bread supposedly got its name. In one version of the folklore, a fisherman living on the North Shore of Massachusetts in the mid-1800s was served a supper of cornmeal mush by his wife, Anna. Dissatisfied with being served this dinner one too many times, the fisherman declared “Anna, damn her!” and added flour, yeast, and molasses to the cornmeal mixture to turn it into bread instead. In other tellings of the story, a New England sea captain had a wife named Anna who was a great baker, and was well known for her cornmeal and molasses bread. When she died, her husband put up a gravestone in her honor reading, “Anna was a lovely bride, but Anna, Damn’er, up and died.” Thus, the bread became known as “Annadammer” or “Annadama.”
In reality, New England bakers have been making breads incorporating cornmeal and molasses, such as johnnycakes, since the Colonial era. But, according to Jonathan Deutsch’s book We Eat What? A Cultural Encyclopedia of Unusual Foods in the United States, in 1850 the name “Anadama” for this style of bread was patented by a bakery in either Rockport or Gloucester, Massachusetts. A company named Anadama Mixes, Inc. started marketing the bread to customers in 1876. My guess is that these apocryphal stories stemmed from marketing materials attempting to teach customers how to pronounce the name of the product. But, we’ll probably never know for sure.
Making a Great Anadama Loaf
What we do know, however, is that this bread is (damn) delicious. Staying true to at least one of the stories, I start by making a cornmeal porridge on the stovetop. Cooking the cornmeal this way hydrates and slightly softens it, which helps keep the baked loaf from being dry and gritty. A quarter cup of molasses stirred into the cornmeal adds a light sweetness and caramel color to the bread without overpowering it. Gradually working the mixture of flour, yeast, and salt into the porridge forms a stiff dough which turns soft and pliable as it proves.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
Shaping the dough into a simple cylinder before tucking it tightly into a loaf pan gives it a classic sandwich bread shape while letting it rise until an inch above the pan ensures proper proofing for a fluffy, tender crumb. If you underproof it less than this, it’s likely the loaf will turn out dense and squat.
I finish the bread by brushing the top of the loaf with a little bit of extra butter for a gorgeous, glossy, soft crust that I just know would make Anna (if she ever existed) proud.
The Hearty All-American Sandwich Bread I’m Baking All Winter Long
Cook Mode
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Cooking spray
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2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces; 320g), plus more for work surface
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2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
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2 teaspoons (9g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt; for table salt, use half as much by volume
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1 1/4 cups (300ml) water
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1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal (2 1/2 ounces; 70g)
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1/4 cup molasses (60ml; 80g)
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1 1/2 tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter, divided
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Grease a large bowl with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, yeast, and salt. Set aside.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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In a small saucepan, bring water to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and stream in cornmeal, whisking constantly, until incorporated. Cook, whisking often, until mixture thickens into porridge and cornmeal is softened, about 1 minute.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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Off heat, add molasses and 1 tablespoon butter. Whisk until well combined and butter is melted. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer or large bowl and let cool, stirring occasionally, until below 110°F (43°C), about 20 minutes. Make sure that the cornmeal mixture has cooled to just warm/below 110°F (43°C) before adding the flour mixture; higher temperatures risk killing the yeast.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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For Making Dough in a Stand Mixer: Fit stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Start mixer on medium-low speed and add flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time, mixing until each addition is incorporated. After final addition, continue mixing on medium-low until cohesive dough forms and no dry flour remains, about 2 minutes.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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Increase mixer speed to medium. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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Sprinkle clean work surface lightly with additional flour. Use greased dough scraper or rubber spatula to transfer dough to floured work surface. Knead by hand for a few turns to form smooth, taut ball.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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For Kneading Dough By Hand: With cornmeal mixture in a large bowl, use a rubber spatula to incorporate the first few additions of the flour mixture into dough, then switch to kneading the remaining flour mixture into the dough with your hands until all of dry flour is incorporated (the dough will seem dry and stiff, but still add all flour).
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Transfer to a clean work surface and knead by hand until smooth and elastic, about 20 minutes, adding flour to the surface as needed as the dough becomes stickier. Knead by hand for a few more turns to form smooth, taut ball.
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For Proofing and Baking: Place dough ball in greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap or clean kitchen towel. Let dough rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, 45 to 75 minutes.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Gently deflate dough and transfer to lightly floured work surface. Pat dough into 7-inch square and form into tight log, pinching seam and ends together to close. Nestle into greased loaf pan, seam-side down, and cover loosely with greased plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until center of loaf reaches 1 inch above rim of pan, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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Near end of rising time, adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (275°C). When dough is ready, remove plastic wrap. Bake until deep golden brown and center of loaf registers 190°F (88°C), 35 to 40 minutes.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
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Transfer loaf pan to wire rack. Let cool for 15 minutes. Use a butter knife or small offset spatula to spread top with remaining 1/2 tablespoon butter until melted and evenly coated. Remove bread from pan and let cool for at least 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Serious Eats / Debbie Wee
Special Equipment
Whisk, instant-read thermometer, stand mixer with dough hook attachment, dough scraper or rubber spatula, 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch metal loaf pan, wire rack, butter knife or small offset spatula
Notes
You can use light or dark molasses in this recipe, but don’t use blackstrap molasses, which will make the bread too bitter.
Make-Ahead and Storage
The fully cooled loaf can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap or sealed in a bread bag and kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen (whole or sliced) wrapped tightly in plastic then aluminum foil for up to 2 months.
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