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Brown Bread Sandwiches (To be used for sandwiches)
Brown Bread to be used for sandwiches is best steamed in one-pound baking-powder boxes. Spread and cut bread as for other sandwiches. Put between layers finely chopped peanuts seasoned with salt; or grated cheese mixed with chopped English walnut meat seasoned with salt.
This is an assembly note rather than a full formula — it assumes you already have the book's steamed brown bread, and its real subject is the shape of the loaf. A pound baking-powder tin gives a narrow cylinder, so every slice comes out a neat round of even thickness, which is the whole point for tea sandwiches.
- The mouldBaking-powder was sold in straight-sided one-pound tins, a narrow cylinder on the order of 3 inches across and 5 inches tall. A 1-lb coffee tin, a 28-oz tomato can washed out, or two 15-oz cans will give a similar round slice; grease them well and fill no more than two-thirds, since steamed brown bread rises considerably.
- Steaming, not bakingCover each tin with greased foil, stand them on a rack in a deep pot with boiling water reaching halfway up the sides, and steam covered for about 3 hours, topping up the water as it goes. Steam is what keeps the crumb moist and close enough to slice thin without crumbling.
- "Spread" means butterThe instruction to spread bread meant softened butter, worked until creamy and taken right to the edges. It is not garnish here — it seals the crumb so the moist brown bread does not go soggy against a damp filling.
- Slice cold, slice thinCool the loaves completely and ideally chill them overnight before cutting. Warm steamed bread tears; cold bread takes a 1/4-inch slice cleanly with a serrated knife.
- The peanut fillingUse unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped fine rather than ground, and salt them yourself, as the recipe directs. A little of the butter worked through the chopped nuts helps them hold to the bread.
- The cheese fillingA dry, firm cheddar or similar aged grating cheese suits the purpose; pre-shredded cheese with anti-caking starch will not bind. Moisten the cheese and walnut mixture with a spoonful of cream or softened butter so it packs rather than scatters.
- YieldOne pound tin gives a modest number of thin rounds, enough for several small sandwiches per loaf. Cut them in halves or quarters if they are going onto a tea tray.
- Holding themCover the finished sandwiches with a barely damp cloth and refrigerate no more than a few hours.
Steamed brown bread is a New England tradition, and the method is usually explained by kitchens that cooked over a hearth or on a stovetop without a dependable oven: a batter of rye, cornmeal and wheat flour sweetened with molasses was set in a covered mould over boiling water instead, and the technique outlasted whatever necessity produced it. The baking-powder tin was a convenient cylinder in a period pantry, and similar improvised tins turn up elsewhere when round slices were wanted. That roundness suits the entry's place in the sandwich chapter: fashionable afternoon tea of the period wanted small, uniform sandwiches, and a loaf steamed in a tin produced them without a cutter. The pairing of dark molasses bread with cheese or nuts persists in New England, most familiar now as brown bread with cream cheese.