One bread that I have grown fond of while living in New England is Anadama Bread. It is one of those regional breads that no one seems to be able to agree on the ‘real’ recipe other than it should probably have cornmeal and molasses in it. Having worked in the baking industry for the past 15 years I’ve accumulated a fair number of baking books, so in order to get a consensus on how this bread is made I pulled them all out in an attempt to find a formula. It turns out I had to dig pretty deep going all the way back to the classics: James Beard’s Beard on Bread, and Laural’s Kitchen Baking Book. And, they couldn’t even agree on the flour: Beard: all-purpose, Laural, fine whole wheat.

I love this bread, as it is hearty, sweet, and has a great color. One of my favorite, current versions of it is baked at Me & Ollie’s in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Me and Ollie’s was started by Roger Elkus. Roger first learned to bake in Utah but got his own bakery started back in his home town of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1989. His bakery began as Stone Mill Bakery but he eventually changed the name to Big Sky Breads. Over the course of the next 10 years investors were brought in and the company expanded to 20 locations around the country. Roger left Big Sky in 1998 and the company has since folded but a few independent Big Sky locations persist, most notably in Portland, Maine which is run by Roger’s sister Martha.

Roger opened Me and Ollie’s original bakery (his son’s names are Max, Eli, and Ollie – hence the name) on Islington Street in Portsmouth, NH in 1998 but today the central bakery and cafe are located within a locally owned grocery store called Philbrick’s Fresh Markets. In addition to the bakery/cafe they have three other cafe locations around the greater Portsmouth area. Today, Roger does little baking spending his time overseeing the 4 stores and seeking out new opportunities. The day to day operations are handled by Pia Bickford, who was running the bakery when I first met her but now acts as General Manager of the 4 locations. Daryl McGann runs the bakery where, in addition to the Anadama they bake up to 15 different types of bread on any given day, much of it containing whole wheat flour, freshly ground at the store.

At Me and Ollie’s they take a number of steps which serve to elevate their Anadama loaf from what might be a tired New England classic (think boiled supper, or red flannel hash) into something that is a delight to eat. One of the hallmarks of Me and Ollie’s is their commitment to grinding their own whole wheat flour. At almost 35% of the overall formula, whole wheat is a solid contributor to the overall look, feel and taste of the final loaf. Me and Ollie’s has been milling wheat from the same farmer in Montana since they opened almost 10 years ago, and, in fact, the connection goes back to Roger’s days of running Big Sky Breads (Montana, Big Sky, get it?).

Their bakery-ground whole wheat flour contributes a freshness to this loaf that might otherwise be missing if they weren’t using it. Also, their use of a sponge to build up the flavor of the dough is another improvement that only serves to enhance this bread.

The production really isn’t that different from any other short fermentation, pan bread you are already making in your bakery. First, the sponge ingredients are mixed to incorporate and then let stand for 90 minutes to begin fermentation. 78F is the target temperature for the sponge. Once the sponge is ready the remaining ingredients are added to it and mixed to full development with a final desired dough temperature of 75 F. The dough is given a 1 to 1 ½ hour bulk fermentation with no fold (but you could fold it if you needed to). Next it is divided into 1# 10 oz pieces and pre-shaped into rounds and given a bench rest of 20-30 minutes. The rounds are then shaped. Just after shaping the loaves are quickly dipped in water (or sprayed) and then their tops are rolled in cornmeal and then placed into the pans. Once in the pans their tops are cut with 3 quick slashes.

Next, they are placed into the proofer where they are left until well risen. At Me and Ollie’s the loaves are baked in a reel oven at 375 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. You are looking for nice coloring being careful not to allow it to get too dark as is possible given the sugar from the molasses in the dough.

This is such a great, enjoyable bread and with many people trying to work more whole grains into their diets Me and Ollie’s version, with the addition of whole wheat flour, makes this a great choice, especially with kids .

So, what’s behind the name, you ask? Well, like the bread’s origins, no two sources seem to agree completely but there is a common thread: A fisherman’s cranky wife (named Anna, of course) left him one day with only some cornmeal mush to eat. Tired of such meager fare the fisherman mixed flour and molasses into it. While eating it he was overheard muttering: “Anna. Damn her!”