Ana-nand… Annna-nandama…Annanadamama… Ok, I can never pronounce this amazing bread but I will eat the heck out of it because it’s sooooo good. Despite being hard to say, it’s incredibly easy to make and double in a bread maker. I discovered this when I decided to make an additional loaf as a “peace offering/thank you” to our neighbors. Let’s just say, the torture flood light, on the back of their house that shines directly into our bedroom window all night, hasn’t been on since! I’m pretty sure it was because of the bread.
This New England yeast bread is made with molasses, which gives it a rich sweetness, and corn meal, that gives it a really nice toothsome quality and texture. It makes an excellent sandwich, perfect toast (The Boyfriend is our toast expert in the house and he gives it five stars) and outstanding french toast after a couple of days. It also smells amazing while baking – you’ll be salivating by the end. And what’s even better, most of the hard work is done by the bread maker.
Want to learn how to use your Bread Maker like a Boss??? Read How to use your Bread Maker Like a Boss… or a Baker!
Get all of your ingredients together and dump them into your bread maker
as recommended by the manufacturer. Mine is wet, dry, and then the yeast.
as recommended by the manufacturer. Mine is wet, dry, and then the yeast.
Set your bread maker to the dough setting and let it do all the work. I like to check on the dough to make sure it doesn’t need anything. This one turned out perfectly! I did use a silicon spatula to scrape down the sides as it’s kneading – it’s about as much as I’m willing to contribute to the kneading process.
Once your bread is done rising, turn it out onto a floured surface. Grease (I used some butter) the pan and then dust it with some cornmeal to coat the pan.
Stretch the dough into a rectangle about the length of the bread pan. Then roll the dough into a tight cylinder. I like to roll and tuck the dough into itself.
Roll and tuck, roll and tuck – not to be confused with a tuck and roll maneuver – until it’s a nice cylinder. Then tuck your ends in and press them into the dough. Make sure all the doughy seams are tight, otherwise you’ll get a lopsided loaf when it bakes. Plop it into your prepared pan and cover it with a tea towel or greased plastic wrap.
After about an hour, come and check on your loaf. You’ll know it’s done proofing when it’s risen about an inch over the pan – cool trick right? I know! I can’t take credit, the amazing people at America’s Test Kitchen
taught me that. Preheat your oven, and right before you put your loaf in the oven, mist the top with water. This is going to give it the best crust.
taught me that. Preheat your oven, and right before you put your loaf in the oven, mist the top with water. This is going to give it the best crust. 
Bake for 35 – 40 minutes. OMG! The smell of this bread baking will make your mouth water, that molasses is deliciously prominent. If you really want to get fancy use a food thermometer and stick it in there – if it’s between 205 – 210 degrees it’s done! Look at how gorgeous this bread is!!! If you were annoying neighbors and you received this as a gift to turn off a torture light – I’m sure you would gladly do it.
- 1 cup water, room temperature
- 3 Tbsp melted butter
- 1/4 cup molases
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup cornmeal
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp yeast
- Put ingredients in the bread machine pan per the manufacturer's instructions. Put bread machine on dough setting. Grease and dust a bread pan with corn meal.
- Once dough cycle is finished, turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Shape dough into an 8 by 6 inch rectangle. Tightly roll the dough into a cylinder, and tuck under the ends into the seam.
- Place the dough seam side down in the prepared pan. Cover with a tea towel or greased plastic wrap. Let rise for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until the dough has risen an inch above the pan.
- Preheat oven to 350. Mist the dough with water and bake until the loaf is a deep golden brown, about 40 - 45 minutes, or until a thermometer registers 205 - 210.
- Let the loaf cool for 15 minutes. Remove it from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack. Allow it to cool completely before diving into it, about 3 hours.
My mouth is watering from your description of the Anadama Bread! Will make a great sandwich with whatever. Thanks for sharing!
Wow, you make it look so easy! and I have all those ingredients in my pantry! I hope you had no more flood light torture from those guys!
We have not had a problem with the torture light since… lol! Enjoy the bread, it’s one of our favorites.
Mmmm, the combination of cornmeal and molasses in this recipe sounds amazing. What a pretty loaf.
i love homemade bread, the smell while it is rising and baking it brings me back to my childhood my dad had a bakery when i was little.
That smell is almost as good as eating it!
My husband and I were just talking about getting a new bread maker. Pinning this recipe! I use corn meal in my bread too so I know this will be an interesting texture!