Boston Brown Bread

 This!! This recipe makes having an instant pot totally worth it! Traditional New England Friday night dinner is hot dogs, baked beans, and brown bread. It took a while but I did find a really good baked bean recipe that we love (and honestly it's become easier with my IP, the dried beans cook quick, add the other ingredients and throw it in the oven for a few hours). I've looked at brown bread recipes off and on for years, wanting to make it at home since only one grocery store around here carries it but it just wasn't something I wanted to tackle. A few months ago I got the idea to make it in my instant pot and poked around the internet to see if I could find a good recipe. I looked a bit, forgot about it, looked some more, found a few, lost them, looked again, found this one, made it, tweaked it, made it again...perfection!

 If you don't know what brown bread is, it's a dense, dark bread baked in a can, filled with raisins, flavored with molasses. Right there, the reason to plan ahead, you need to save 4 15oz size cans to make your bread. Make sure the lids come off cleanly so you don't cut your hand filling the cans or getting the bread out. Four cans fit perfectly in the IP.

While this bread is the perfect companion to baked beans you can also eat it for breakfast or with a cup of tea later in the day. Serve with butter or cream cheese.

 Boston Brown Bread

makes 4 "loaves"

 

1 c raisins & 1 c boiling water (optional)

2 1/2 c wheat flour

1/2 c all purpose flour

1/2 c sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 c buttermilk

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1/2 c molasses 

Place raisins in a medium bowl and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 10 minutes or until puffed up. drain. 

Combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk baking soda into buttermilk, whisk in the egg, then stir in the molasses. Fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated then fold in raisins.

Spray 4 15 oz cans with non-stick spray. Pour batter into cans, filing about 1/2 full. Tap cans on counter to remove any air bubbles. Cover each can with a piece of foil to keep water out. Put 1 1/2 c water in the bottom of your instant pot, add the steamer rack then put your cans on the rack. Put the lid on, set the valve to 'sealing' and set your IP to manual, 35 minutes. When it's done let it naturally release for 10 minutes then manually release any remaining pressure. Carefully take out the cans and use a knife to loosen the bread from the cans. Let cool on a wire rack.

Serve with butter or cream cheese.

Modified from 12 Tomatoes