​One of the treats I always looked forward to when I was little is Boston Brown Bread. It is one of those regional victuals that is often an accompaniment to baked beans but is good enough to stand on its own. It's an old thing, a steamed pudding full of molasses, and rye flour, and raisins and other tasty things. The recipe I used was adapted from M. Houghton Whitcomb's, 1892, "Souvenir Cook Book." Boston Brown Breads are often cooked in old tin cans when a mold isn't available. I used one of  my antique pudding molds for this loaf. The old covered molds allow using a covered Dutch oven to steam the Brown Bread, and they really jazz up the finished product. The old tin can technique works fine though, you can't get much homier than that.

​1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
1/3 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup raisins
1 Tbs. butter
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Use butter to grease the pudding mold or tin. Sift together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, followed by the milk and molasses, then the raisins. Pour the batter into the greased mold or tin, cover the container with tin foil or the mold lid and tie with a string if necessary to make the mold watertight. Place the mold in a baking pan filled with boiling water enough to submerge about 1/2 of the mold.  Steam for 2 hours in the oven making sure to maintain the water level.  Check for doneness using a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread.