There are many versions of how this bread came into being. They're all similar, but each varies slightly. The general consensus is that a New England woman named Anna provoked her husband—some say through laziness, others say from baking the same bread daily, or for not finishing her bread-baking. The husband either threw a bag of cornmeal at her and missed, but spilled it into the dough; or he grabbed cornmeal instead of flour and tried to finish her bread. He muttered, "Anna, damn her!" The story's origin may be confused, but the recipe of flour, cornmeal, yeast and molasses has prevailed! This hearty bread is good with any number of soups.

2 cups (16 ounces) boiling water
1/2 cup (6 ounces) dark molasses
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup (1 5/8 ounces) shortening or butter
1 1/2 cups (7 3/8 ounces) whole cornmeal
4 teaspoons instant yeast or 2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
5 cups (1 pound, 5 1/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or King Arthur whole wheat flour, Traditional or White Whole Wheat (or a combination)

Combine boiling water, molasses, salt, shortening and cornmeal. Stir to mix. Cover and let cool to lukewarm, approximately 110°F, about 45 minutes.

In a large bowl, stir the yeast into the 1/2 cup warm water to soften. Add the molasses mixture and 2 cups flour. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

Gradually add more flour, a little at a time, until you have a dough that's stiff enough to knead. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.

Knead, adding flour as necessary, until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Put the dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat entire ball of dough with oil, then cover with a towel and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, and divide it in half. Shape into loaves and place in two well-greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pans. Cover with greased plastic and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

Bake in a preheated 375°F oven for 30 minutes, or until the center reads 190°F when measured with an instant-read thermometer. Immediately remove bread from pans and cool on a wire rack. Makes 2 loaves.

This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 3, January-February 1992 issue.