Anadama Bread

I made this one last night, and I hope I don't kill the suspense by saying that it was terrific.  My wife's family is from the Rockport area, and they have had plenty of the real stuff, so I wondered what they would think, and it passed muster with flying colors.

Reinhart makes this recipe (like nearly all of them from BBA) a two day affair, but the first day is super easy.  Just soak some cornmeal in water.  He recommends a coarse cornmeal, and I was fortunate enough to find a good Portugese brand for a fraction of the "specialty flour" price.

Then it was a matter of soaking overnight.

The next day, the real fun begins.  The soaked cornmeal is added  to bread flour, more yeast, salt, molasses, and butter.  That gets kneaded together and allowed to rise, and finally put into loaf pans.

Finally, it goes into the oven, and - voila! - my first BBA Challenge bread is done!

This is really good bread.  It has a hint of the sweetness from the molasses, but not nearly as sweet as my usual oatmeal molasses bread.  In fact, I think this bread could easily support a savory sandwich without the sweetness being too cloying.  So far, though, more thna a loaf has disappeared in the toaster for butter and jam!