Boston Brown Bread, AKA New England Brown Bread, is traditionally cooked in a can and comes out round, but this recipe uses a regular loaf pan. It’s packed with hearty, nutritious ingredients, with 100% whole grains and no refined sugar. It steams as it bakes, resulting in a super moist, soft bread. It’s great slathered with butter for a healthy breakfast or snack, and for a true New England experience you can serve it with baked beans for dinner on a cold winter’s night.
Boston Brown Bread is probably the easiest (and cheapest!) bread you’ll ever make. It’s a no-knead, yeast-free quick bread, everything is mixed up in one bowl for easy clean-up, and it’s healthy and nutritious.
It’s also egg-free, and easy to adapt to be vegan if you use a plant-based milk.
Most New England brown bread recipes require setting the bread in a baking dish of water to steam it, and baking it or steaming on the stovetop. This version is a bit easier and instead covers the loaf pan tightly with foil to trap the steam inside, so you don’t need to worry about giving it a steam bath.
And this recipe is made from scratch as an alternative to canned brown bread (yes, it’s a thing!), and from scratch is always better.
Ingredients in Brown Bread
- Cornmeal – I prefer stone ground because it has a great texture.
- Rye Flour
- Whole Wheat Flour
- Baking Powder, Baking Soda, and Kosher Salt
- Maple Syrup – can be omitted if you like, or substituted with another sweetener like sugar, brown sugar, or honey.
- Molasses
- Whole Milk – this can be substituted with plant-based milk, buttermilk, or low-fat milk.
- Vanilla Extract
- Raisins – these are optional. You can also use currants or another dried fruit. I used a mix of dark and golden raisins.
How to make Boston Brown Bread
- GREASE a loaf pan (or coffee can, if you like!) with a generous amount of butter (about 1/2 to 1 tablespoon).
- PREHEAT the oven to 350 degrees F.
- MIX the dry ingredients – whole wheat flour, cornmeal, rye flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- MIX IN the wet ingredients – add the milk, molasses, maple syrup, and vanilla extract to the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix until it’s all incorporated.
- FOLD in the raisins.
- POUR batter into prepared baking dish and COVER TIGHTLY with foil. This will seal the top and keep all the steam in, creating that steamed texture and moisture without actually steaming anything.
- BAKE for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- COOL for about 10 minutes at least before dislodging it from the pan and cool even longer before slicing.
FAQs
Can I bake this in a can if I prefer?
Yes! For the purists out there, feel free to use a 29 oz. coffee can (or something similar) to bake this instead of a loaf pan.
How is this different from Irish Brown Bread?
Irish brown bread uses a mixture of white and whole wheat flours, rather than using rye and cornmeal, and is baked in a round loaf similar to soda bread. Here’s a great recipe for Irish Brown Bread if you want to give it a try!
My bread collapsed in the center- help!
This batter is quite wet and since the steam gets trapped in, don’t worry if it collapses a little bit in the center as long as it’s cooked all the way through! If this happens, you can just slice it upside down (which gives it more of that out-of-a-can authentic look anyway). Truth be told, this happened to me and I took these photos anyway!
Can I use sourdough starter in this recipe?
I’ve never tried it, but this sourdough brown bread recipe might be a good place to start.
What should I serve with New England Brown Bread?
Boston Brown Bread is often served with baked beans. I served mine with some BBQ baked beans from a local food truck here in Austin (Crimson Creek BBQ). Here’s a classic New England Baked Beans recipe you can try at home.
Hot dogs sans buns also make a great, authentic accompaniment to the beans and bread.
I also love the brown bread heated in the microwave and served with butter or cream cheese for breakfast or a snack.
Other New England Inspired Recipes
Other quick bread recipes
- Olive Oil Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Chai Bread
- Whole Grain Lemon Poppyseed Bread
- Jalapeño Cornbread
- Chocolate Banana Bread
Boston Brown Bread (New England Brown Bread)
Equipment
- 9×5 Loaf Pan
- Aluminum Foil
- Large Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- butter or cooking spray for greasing the pan
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1/2 cup rye flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/3 cup dark molasses
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup raisins golden or regular, or a mix
- salted butter and baked beans for serving, optional
Instructions
- Grease a 9×5 loaf pan (or for a more authentic version, a 29 oz. coffee can) with a generous amount of butter. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk or stir together the cornmeal (1/2 cup), rye flour (1/2 cup), whole wheat flour (1/2 cup), baking powder (1 teaspoon), baking soda (1 teaspoon), and kosher salt (1 teaspoon) in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the maple syrup (2 tablespoons), molasses (1/3 cup), milk (1 cup), and vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) to the batter and whisk or stir together until everything is combined.
- Add the raisins to the batter and fold in.
- Pour batter in prepared baking dish. Cover tightly with foil (so the steam doesn't escape to keep the bread moist).
- Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge and gently removing it. Cool for 5-10 minutes longer, slice into 10 pieces, and serve slathered with butter with a side of baked beans.
Notes
- Ingredient substitutions: plant-based milk (for a vegan version), buttermilk, or low-fat milk can be substituted for the whole milk, white flour can be substituted for whole wheat, sugar or honey may be substituted for maple syrup (or syrup omitted), raisins may be omitted or substituted with another dried fruit of choice, such as currants.
- Brown bread mix may be available in your grocery store- it’s rye flour, whole wheat flour, and cornmeal pre-mixed for convenience. You can use 1.5 heaping cups of that if you like instead of the individual flours.
- Don’t be alarmed if the bread collapses in the center. If you use a loaf pan, this might happen, since the batter is very wet and it’s steamed while baking. Honestly, it happened to me but I took photos anyway… I just flipped it upside down! It gave it a more authentic “out of a can” look anyway :-)
- This recipe is adapted from Erin French’s New England Brown Bread in The Lost Kitchen cookbook, page 219.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Leigh-Anne Salvadori
Could you add an egg I noticed it doesn’t have an egg and I read that this recipe usually doesn’t but an egg would just add to it being more moist I would think? I want to make this for my dad he always has loved brown bread maybe I’ll do it this Thanksgiving thank you for the recipe, oh also I wanted to mention I wanted to eventually do a recipe like this, and I wanted to can it in canning jars so my dad could have it anytime he wanted for years…
Elizabeth Lindemann
The bread is already pretty moist just from the fact that it steams, which traps the moisture in. I’m not sure about adding an egg, if you did you would need to decrease the other liquid ingredients but a little bit. I can’t help with any homemade canning tips for this as I don’t know much about that. I’d love to know how it turns out if you end up experimenting!
Sally
This bread is delicious! It was easy to make and I really appreciated having the measurement amounts included in the directions. I used home ground wheat berries, rye berries, and popcorn, then baked it in a loaf pan covered with foil, perfect! We had it with homemade baked beans (from dry beans, no less!) and Cole slaw. My husband loved it so it’s definitely a keeper recipe. Thank you so much for sharing it!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! Glad to hear the ingredient amounts were helpful for you. What a delicious meal – love your additions!
Andi B
I’m making brown bread in a few days. It was recommended to me to use graham flour with the corn meal and rye. Gonna give it a go. Appreciate the “steaming” directions. Who has a coffee can these days? When I was a kid in Massachusetts we always had Pepperidge Farm cornmeal molasses bread. Made an awesome tomato Sammie. Now I just need some baked beans.
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Elizabeth Lindemann
Hope you like it! Interesting idea to add graham flour, I bet it will work well! And exactly – who has a coffee can anymore? Glad the loaf pan instructions were helpful for you. For the cornmeal molasses bread, are you thinking of anadama bread? Another New England staple! Here’s a recipe from King Arthur for it: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/new-england-anadama-bread-recipe
Shane
Delicious! I made this today for my mom and I and was the first boston bread I ever eaten. Simple to make. I scanned the web for recipes today and wanted something fast without needing yeast. This ones a keeper. Only small thing I changed I used a drizzle of maple syrup, and used a little extra mollases. Next time ill make it exact to your recipe.Thank you Elisabeth! Will make again.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Michele
This is such a great recipe. I’ve made it several times and my friends and family love it. It goes great with soup or chili in the winter.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
moe
Easy and delicious. Brought back some fond childhood memories. Thanks for sharing!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Randi
When you test for doneness with the toothpick, you must (of course) pierce or remove the foil and steam will escape. Does that prevent the bread from continuing to cook if it wasn’t completely done?
Can’t wait to try this! I’ve never had homemade brown bread.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Great question. It’s always been done enough for me but if for some reason it’s not, just wrap it up again (carefully) and you should be fine!
Mary liz
Delicious and perfect with beans or toasted for breakfast.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Ellie
This is my second time making this, and I love it! I found it slightly too sweet last time I made it, so I omitted the maple syrup and reduced the molasses to about 1/4 cup this time, and it was perfect for me! My first time I used buckwheat flour instead of rye, but this time I used dark rye. I have used both plant milk and regular dairy and not noticed a difference. I reduced the salt slightly (3/4 tsp) to compensate for my reduction in sweetness, so if you reduce the sweetness, consider doing the same.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it, and thanks for sharing your suggestions for making it less sweet!