Indian Bread

A steamed brown bread of the Boston type, leavened entirely with soda against molasses and buttermilk. It is straightforward once you sort out the meal and the liquid.

• Indian mealCornmeal — the nineteenth-century American name for maize meal, as opposed to wheat or rye "flour." Use a medium or fine yellow cornmeal, not coarse polenta grind and not degerminated corn flour.
• Graham flourCoarse whole-wheat flour, ground from the whole kernel and named for Sylvester Graham. Ordinary stoneground whole-wheat flour is the closest current equivalent.
• The liquid is shortOne and a half cups of liquid (molasses plus buttermilk) to three cups of dry goods gives a paste rather than a batter. Steamed brown breads want a thick but pourable mixture, so expect to add buttermilk — often another half to full cup — until it drops heavily from the spoon.
• SodaTwo teaspoons is in line with other steamed brown breads of the period, with the buttermilk doing most of the work and the molasses helping. Dissolve it in the buttermilk as directed and get the batter into the mould promptly, since the reaction begins at once.
• The mouldFill a greased 1- to 1.5-quart pudding mould, coffee tin or two 1-lb cans about two-thirds full and cover tightly with a lid or foil tied down. Water in the pot should come halfway up the mould and be kept at a bare simmer, topped up with boiling water as it drops.
• Three hours is not paddingSteamed batter breads need the long, moist heat to set the coarse meal; the loaf is done when a skewer comes out clean. The recipe gives no oven temperature for the final ten minutes; a moderate oven is a reasonable reading, and the purpose is to dry the outside of the loaf after steaming.
• Yield and servingOne loaf, or two if divided between cans as above. Cut it warm with a length of thread rather than a knife, which drags in a damp crumb, and serve it with butter or alongside baked beans.