Sourdough Boston Brown Bread
Here's a sourdough-leavened take on Boston Brown Bread, a colonial New England classic with rye, corn, and wheat flours. This variation is baked in a loaf pan and the texture is very tender and moist. Enjoy with baked beans, slathered with butter, or with a piece of sharp cheddar.
- Prep time
- 30 min
- Cook time
- 1 hr 20 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
- 185 g all purpose flour or bread flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 185 g rye whole grain flour (1 1/2 cups)
- 120 g red fife whole grain flour or other whole wheat (1 cup)
- 90 g corn flour (3/4 cup)
- 5 g salt (1 tsp)
- 120 g ripe sourdough starter (~1/2 cup)
- 400 g warmed milk, under 90°F (1 2/3 - 1 3/4 cups)
- 90 g molasses (1/4 cup)
- optional 90 grams raisins or currants (1/2 cup)
- Baker's Percentages
- 32 % all purpose or bread flour
- 32 % rye whole grain flour
- 21 % red fife whole grain flour
- 15 % corn flour
- 1 % salt
- 21 % sourdough starter
- 69 % milk
- 15 % molasses
Instructions
- 1
This bread has a quick and easy mixing, a long first rise and a moderate final proof. Under 70°F ambient temp (or using cold milk), you can let the dough rise unattended overnight. The final proof will range from 2-4 hours, again depending on the ambient temp.
- 2
Whisk together the four flours and salt in a large bowl. Add the milk, sourdough starter, molasses, and optional dried fruit. Mix until thoroughly combined. The dough will have a consistency like thick cement. Smooth out the top with a damp spatula and note the level on the bowl or dough bucket if you transferred it.
- 3
Cover and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size. Depending on the ambient and milk temperatures, this could take anywhere from 6-12 hours. With 85°F milk and kitchen temps under 70°F, an overnight rise should time out well.
- 4
Grease a medium-sized loaf pan (9x5x2.75 inches).
- 5
Scrape the fermented dough out of the bowl onto a floured work surface.
- 6
Flatten the dough into a rectangle that's about 8 inches wide -- this is the side you'll roll the dough from. The length can vary, but about 12 inches is fine.
- 7
Roll the dough into a tube along the short edge, so the tube is about 8 inches long.
- 8
Place the tube seam-side down in the loaf pan.
- 9
Cover and let the dough rise again until it just crests the rim of the pan. This should take 2-4 hours, depending on the ambient temperature. In a proofing box set to 80°F, my dough needed just under 2 hours.
- 10
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- 11
Brush the dough with milk and form a tent for your loaf pan by wrapping aluminum foil around the bottom of the pan to shape it, then remove and place the foil on top of the pan, sealing the edges (see Photo Gallery).
- 12
Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes (80 minutes) or until the internal temperature is over 190°F. At 60+ minutes, you can remove the tent to use a probe thermometer and check the temp. Loosely re-cover the bread if you need to continue baking.
- 13
Once the target internal temp is reached, remove the bread from the oven and let it cool out of the pan for at least 2 hours before cutting.