The daily bread of the hearth
Rye and Indian Bread
EverydayDocumented🍯 ☕moyen3 h (including rising)
A dense loaf, slightly sweetened with molasses, baked slowly in a low oven: the emblematic brown loaf of New England farms, both nourishing and long-keeping.
The daily bread of the hearth
A dense loaf, slightly sweetened with molasses, baked slowly in a low oven: the emblematic brown loaf of New England farms, both nourishing and long-keeping.
Bread is my charge, and no one kneads my Father's but me. I mix rye with the golden coarse grain of Indian meal, I pour in a dark stream of molasses like a winter evening, and I let the dough rise unhurriedly near the hearth. The baking is slow—far slower than a tedious visit—and the whole house smells of warm grain. A well-made loaf, I confess, is worth a small prize at the county fair.
Ingredients
- •Rye flour — two measures (base grain, earthy flavor)
- •Cornmeal (Indian meal) — one measure (texture and sweetness)
- •West Indies molasses — a good splash (sweetness and brown color)
- •Sourdough starter or brewer's yeast — enough (leavening)
- •Warm water and a pinch of salt — as needed for dough (binding)
How it was made : In the 19th century, this bread baked for hours in the brick bread oven still warm from the day's baking, sometimes steamed in a covered mold (brown bread). Molasses replaced expensive refined sugar.
Sources : Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst — section 'Emily Dickinson the baker' · Lydia Maria Child, The American Frugal Housewife (1829)