(smooth bass music)
- Hey everybody, welcome back to Smart Cookie.
I'm your host, Elise Mayfield,
and today we're making bread in a can.
Yes, we are in fact making canned bread today,
it's better known as Boston Brown Bread.
This comes from a Colonial tradition,
so this is a super old recipe,
as old as the United States, probably older.
We're basically making a giant bran muffin in a can.
Alright, here we go.
This comes from a tradition of what they call thirded bread,
so that means our bread is made
out of three different kinds of grain.
We're doing regular AP flour, we've got some rye flour,
and corn meal; we're just gonna get those all together.
So, salt, and then we've got our leaveners,
we have baking soda, and we have some baking powder,
just gonna whisk that together.
So that's it for our dry ingredients,
really simple, comes together super quickly.
So now we're gonna mix together all of our wet ingredients.
So we have got some buttermilk, and we're using
buttermilk to help activate the baking soda.
Baking soda needs some sort of asset to help activate it.
Baking powder is already ready to go,
but this will help us a little bit.
We've got molasses, molasses is gonna
give us a ton of flavor in this.
Little bit of brown sugar just to help with the sweetness.
And one egg, plop, boom, nailed it.
So now we're gonna whisk all of this together.
♪ Whisk it up da na na da na na ♪
Making a mess, as per use.
Wet ingredients meet dry ingredients, you know the drill.
So now all we're gonna do is mix this together.
So this is gonna be a pretty thin batter.
You're basically using equal parts molasses to grain.
It's from Colonial times, no one is quite sure
where it came from, but this is definitely
like a very traditional American dish,
but it definitely comes from the tradition
of English puddings, if you've ever had
like a plum pudding at Christmas time.
This is similar to the method
that you would use to make that.
And lastly, we're just gonna add some currants.
Kinda like raisins, but better.
And look, if you're a raisin hater,
there's a lot of you out there, I think it's uncalled for,
but I'm adding the currants.
If you hate them, and you're not
a dried fruit person, you do you, boo.
♪ Stir it up mmkay ♪
Now things get interesting.
(metal clanking)
I really wish I knew how to play
that can song right now, or some sort of like...
(metal clanking)
I mean, that's not it, but it's something, it's like a...
(metal clanking)
Nailed it.
Alright, so, we are gonna spray the inside
of two 15 ounce cans with some baking spray.
Hey, what's up, my friend Pam?
Aunt Pamela to the rescue, as per use.
And now all we're gonna do is divide
the batter equally between these two cans.
Okay, so now that we have poured our batter
into these cans, now comes the interesting part.
So, first of all, I'm gonna put this electric kettle on
to boil, we need some boiling water because these
are not going in the oven, we are going to boil the cans
in water and that's how this is gonna bake.
(laughs) That sounds so scary.
The first thing we're gonna do is cover the tops
of these with some lightly sprayed aluminum foil,
and then we're just gonna tie them down with some twine.
And, oh my gosh, look at this handy dandy schpool, schpool.
Alright, so we're just gonna tie these
so that the foil doesn't float off.
Most people in Colonial times, when they first moved here,
they didn't have access to ovens,
but they could build an open fire
and they could absolutely boil water,
so this was a way for people
to make bread without having an oven.
Okay so, we are gonna go in this big giant pot,
and then we're gonna fill the pot with boiling water.
Oh hey, look at that steamy steaminess.
So we are looking to get the water
level about halfway up the cans.
You know, I didn't even think about this being
a camping thing until somebody in the room said it
because (sighs) Smart Cookie confession,
I have never been camping.
When I (laughs) was in middle school,
my mother asked me if I would like to go to summer camp,
and I promptly told her no because they didn't
have air conditioning, and then I went to theater camp
and that's how I ended up with a Internet cooking show.
So we've got out water level up,
we're just gonna let this come to a boil.
And then it's gonna simmer for about 35 to 40 minutes,
and then all it needs to do is rest in its can for about 15,
then we can take them out of the cans
and eat them right then and there, delish.
Do you guys like the decorations at my pub?
Welcome to the cookie pub, where there's pictures of me.
This old thing? This old thing from when I was
on season five of Master Chef?
Shout out, Gordon Ramsay, what's up?
Uh oh, we've come up to a bubble.
Alright, so now we have come up to a boil,
and now we're basically just reducing the heat,
we're gonna go back down to a simmer,
we're gonna cover this, and we're gonna
let it steam for 35 to 40 minutes.
Alright, ready for a steam show? Poof, noice!
Now we're just gonna take these bad boys out,
we're just gonna take them from one wire rack
to another one, and these just need to like keep it cool
in their cans for about 15 minutes,
but we're gonna go ahead and take off the foil top.
Careful, don't burn yourself.
Oh yeah, look at that little guy, he looks funny,
don't worry, not the most appetizing, it's fine.
So we have let these rest for about 15 minutes,
and now we are going to try to turn these out of the cans.
Please oh please, oh please,
let these come out of the cans (laughs).
Oh yeah, nice, that's a win right there.
Look at that little cutie.
Yes, we have success, we did it!
♪ Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun ♪
I think it's time for the true test, taste test.
The coolest thing about these is you can still see
the ring delineation from the can,
and I love the little domed top, it's so cute.
Let's cut into this guy.
So these are supposed to be really like dense and moist,
kind of like a quick bread, like a banana bread
or a zucchini bread, something like that.
I think this would be really tasty for breakfast.
Let's try it with a little cream cheese, huh?
Ah yeah, canned bread that I steamed in a pot.
That is very tasty; it's not super sweet,
but you get a little hint from all those currants in there,
the corn meal is really nice because it gives it
this really incredible texture, and because we steamed it,
it's really dense and moist and truly,
I would eat this at breakfast.
If you try this recipe, let me know how it goes.
Make sure you like, share, subscribe, ring the bell,
all those things, and if you have any family recipes
that you'd love to share with me, I would love to hear them.
Alright, that's another one in the can, hey yo!
Didn't even plan that, that was good (laughs).