For months I’ve been trying to duplicate this bread that they serve at Wildfire Grill in Chicago. I’ve posted a couple of attempts of the pumpernickel bread that had raisins in it. It is a bread that is served that is standard for each table. It is so awesome.
Anyway last week while in the line at the grocery store doing my usual looking through all of the food magazines I came across a recipe for Blueberry Boston Brown Bread. The picture looked just like the bread that I’ve been trying to make. I knew I did not have enough time to write the recipe on the back of my grocery list, so I whipped out my phone and took a picture of the ingredients.
Yes…I took a picture of the ingredients.
The book was a book of slow cooker recipes and I briefly read the instructions, but my thought was I should be able to go online and find this recipe. Not so. 
I found recipes for Boston Brown Bread, but not a slow cooker recipe that was the same as the one I had took a picture of. I went through my cook books and found a recipe for the bread in my Better Homes and Gardens book and decided to go with it. The final product was AWESOME (I say that in a sing-songy voice)!!!
Here is the break down….
First I mixed the All-purpose, Whole Wheat (I have white whole wheat), Rye flour, & Cornmeal in a bowl
To that I added baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Then I remembered that I needed to soak my raisins and cranberries in 2 tbsp of boiling water.
I mixed all the dry ingredients than moved on to the wet. I measured a cup of buttermilk.
I mixed it with molasses and brown sugar that I put in another measuring cup.
I added the wet to the dry, then folded in the raisin/cranberry mixture.
This I placed in a loaf pan that I had sprayed with cooking spray and then placed that inside of a casserole dish. I took a piece of non-stick aluminum foil and placed it over the top of my dough/batter. (In hindsight, I should have done a better job of covering it, and I’ll tell you why in a sec).
I placed this in my oven (325 degrees convection, 350 convention) and added water to the casserole dish.
The bread is to cook for approximately 2 hours. I think I let my cook longer than that because I was also making a cake at the same time and I didn’t reset the timer once I had taken my cake out of the oven. Have mentioned that I cannot wait until I get my kitchen remodeled so that I can have double ovens?
Anywho…I took the bread out of the oven and gave it a slice. The top was a bit crunchy, that could have been a result of my not covering the top securely or me leaving it in the oven for too long. I’m not sure, but it was still awesome and finally what I had been eating at Wildfire. No longer do I have to attempt to make that bread. I now know what I’ve been eating. It wasn’t pumpernickel raisin, it was Boston Brown Bread! 
I slathered on the butter. Then cut me another piece and slathered on more butter and had it with dinner.
I’m so happy to have found it. Now if I could just get the recipe for their spiced peanuts that they serve at the bar.
Here’s the recipe. I hope you like as much as I do.
1/3 cup raisins (or dried blueberries, cranberries)
2 tbsp boiling water
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup rye flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup full-flavor molasses
2 tbsp maple sugar or dark brown sugar (I used light because that was all I had)
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray loaf pan. Add raisins to 2 tbsp boiling water and set aside
2) Combine all-purpose flour, cornmeal, whole wheat flour, rye flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and set aside.
3) In another bowl combine buttermilk, molasses, and brown sugar.
4) Combine the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
5) Fold in raisins, include the liquid from the soaking process.
6) Place in greased loaf pan. Then place the pan inside of casserole dish. Take a piece of aluminum foil that as been lightly sprayed with cooking spray and place over the batter sprayed side down. (I know you can figure that out, but I do know some people that would not know to do sprayed side down, so I had to say it.) For this I would try my best to secure it as much as possible without actually closing it off. Tuck it around the sides really good.
7) Place the casserole dish in the oven then add enough boiling water into dish to come up sides of loaf pan about 1-inch.
8) Let it bake for about 2 hrs or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Slice and serve warm with butter, cream cheese sweetened with honey, or even honey butter. I had plain butter and it was fabulous.
Note: I believe that I got this recipe from the Better Homes and Garden Slow Cooker Recipes book, but I must emphasis that I was in the grocery store line and didn’t pay much attention to which book I picked up. I did however confirm the recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens Dessert Cookbook.
