Anadama Bread

This recipe for traditional New England anandama bread—a slightly sweet dark yeast bread made with flour, cornmeal, and molasses—makes 2 loaves, one to eat now and one to freeze. Serve hot with butter and cinnamon.

By
Hank Shaw
Hank Shaw
Hank Shaw
Hank has authored five cookbooks, the latest in 2021. His website Hunter Angler Gardener Cook won Best Food Blog by the James Beard Foundation in 2013.
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Updated April 14, 2022
Hank Shaw
Sliced Anadama Bread
Elise Bauer

Have you ever had Anadama bread? It's a traditional dark yeast bread from New England. Please welcome Hank Shaw as he shares the recipe for this delicious loaf he made for us the other day. ~Elise

My mum was never much of a baker, but she used to tell us about a bread she loved back at home on the North Shore of Massachusetts called, oddly, anadama bread.

How Anadama Bread Got Its Name

Apparently the old tale is that Anna was a fisherman’s wife who fed her beau little more than cornmeal porridge sweetened with molasses. One day, so the story goes, the fisherman came home, added some flour and yeast to the mush and tossed it in the oven to make bread—all the while muttering, “Anna, damn her!”

Anadama Bread, Anna Damn Her bread
Elise Bauer

Obviously this is an apocryphal story, but the bread—based on cornmeal and molasses—dates back to Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in the early part of the 20th century.

It is a dense, dark bread, a little sweet from the molasses, and it is very, very good with butter and cinnamon. Serve it hot, and then later as toast.

Anadama bread also freezes well, which is why this recipe makes two loaves. We’ve read dozens of recipes for anadama bread and decided to base ours off the venerable one in the Fanny Farmer cookbook, which is more than a century old.

More Classic Bread Recipes

From the Editors Of Simply Recipes

Anadama Bread

Prep Time 40 mins
Cook Time 50 mins
Total Time 90 mins
Servings 16 to 20 servings
Yield 2 loaves

The dough is very sticky and is not kneadable; just spoon it into the loaf pans. It will also take some time to rise properly – sometimes 3 to 4 hours. Just give it time, it’ll rise.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cornmeal

  • 2 cups water

  • 1/2 cup molasses

  • 3 tablespoons butter (at room temperature)

  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt

  • 1/2 cup warm water

  • 1 (7g) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

  • 4 1/2 cups bread flour

Method

  1. Add the cornmeal and boiling water to a bowl:

    Place the cornmeal in a large bowl. Boil the two cups of water and pour the hot water into the cornmeal, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Let sit for 30 minutes.

  2. Add the molasses, salt and butter to cornmeal mixture:

    Add the molasses, salt and butter and stir to combine. The cornmeal water should still be warm enough to melt the room temperature butter.

  3. Activate the yeast:

    Put 1/2 cup of warm water (slightly warmer than body temperature) into a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let sit for a few minutes. Then stir it to gently combine. Let sit for another 5 minutes.

  4. Combine the yeast and cornmeal mixtures, then add the flour:

    Add the yeast and the water to the bowl with the cornmeal and everything else, and mix to combine. Add the bread flour, a cup at a time, stirring after each addition. You will end up with something of a gloopy mess.

  5. Pour the dough into loaf pans and let rise:

    Butter a couple of 5- x 9-inch loaf pans. Spoon the dough mixture into the pans as best you can; it’ll be sticky. Cover with a tea towel and let rise for several hours, until it doubles in size.

    anadama bread dough in loaf pans
    Elise Bauer
    Baked anadama bread
    Elise Bauer

  6. Preheat the oven:

    Preheat the oven to 350°F .

  7. Bake:

    Bake the breads for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a skewer or knife blade comes out clean. Let the loaves cool for a few minutes, then turn them out onto racks to continue cooling.

    Finished anadama bread recipe
    Elise Bauer
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
163 Calories
2g Fat
31g Carbs
4g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 16 to 20
Amount per serving
Calories 163
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g 3%
Saturated Fat 1g 6%
Cholesterol 5mg 2%
Sodium 369mg 16%
Total Carbohydrate 31g 11%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Total Sugars 6g
Protein 4g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 24mg 2%
Iron 1mg 4%
Potassium 167mg 4%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.