Eating bread from a can might sound like crazy talk to some, but for natives of New England, its a food steeped in nostalgia. For many families in the region, Saturday nights meant a dinner of Boston baked beans, hot dogs, and canned bread, and while the products popularity has faded in recent decades, its mere mention still evokes strong opinions, both good and bad.
When people talk about canned bread, they are almost always referring to a specific brand — B&M Brown Bread — made by the same Maine-based company that is nationally renowned for its baked beans. It is essential to note that B&M Brown Bread and its imitators are completely different from traditional Irish brown bread, despite the regions strong ties to the Emerald Isle, but were not here to tell you what it isnt; were here to tell you what it is.
Canned foods get a bad rap these days, often associated with malicious preservatives and unhealthy additives, but B&Ms ingredients list is actually very straightforward. It contains whole wheat flour, water, molasses, dextrose, rye flour, whey, corn meal, baking soda, buttermilk, salt, and corn oil. B&M also makes a version with raisins, which adds additional sweetness, but the flavor is really dominated by the marriage of molasses and rye, similar to the taste of pumpernickel bread. Its a polarizing flavor, leaving some with fond memories while others find it bland and forgettable. The one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that canned bread isnt really bread.
It has a molasses taste and is more like a muffin type bread.
It’s more like cake than bread
In truth, the term “canned bread” is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, it indeed comes in a can, just like B&Ms other products, and when you slide it out, it has ridges, just like you see on canned cranberry sauce. However, most people who have tried it agree that “bread” is a poor descriptor. Its texture has much more in common with a cake or muffin than a loaf of sandwich bread or sourdough. It is leavened with baking soda rather than yeast, giving it a fairly dense crumb with very small air bubbles. Some find it to be a bit on the dry side, which is where additions like butter, jam, or a plate of baked bean liquid to sop up comes in handy.
Many online reviews compare B&Ms canned brown bread with bran muffins, in terms of both texture and taste, which should give you a better idea of what youll be in for when you eat it. The subtle sweetness of the molasses is what gives it a bran-like flavor. Other comments draw parallels to banana bread (without the bananas) and zucchini bread, both of which are traditionally made without yeast and lean more toward the texture of cake than a classic loaf of bread. For any readers familiar with British cuisine, steamed pudding is another useful comparison, which brings us to the reason canned bread exists in the first place.
B&M Bread in a can taste test/Thank you Jayne
FAQ
What does B&M brown bread taste like?
Is brown bread in a can good?
Does brown bread taste sweet?
What does brown bread taste like?
The whole thing is like a big, heavy bran muffin that was transmogrified into a log and stuffed into a can. The flavors here aren’t exactly complex. Brown bread is a pretty simple baked concoction of wheat flour, rye flour and molasses. There is a mild amount of sweetness that comes the molasses, giving that bran-adjacent flavor.
What nutrients are present in white bread or brown bread?
It is always better to choose brown bread. Brown bread is made of whole wheat, with their outer covering intact. This makes brown bread more nutritious and rich in fiber as compared to white bread. Brown bread contains more vitamin B-6 and E, magnesium, folic acid, zinc copper and manganese.
What is B&M brown bread?
B&M brown bread, like banana bread and muffins, are baked goods who are lying to you about what they are. This is cake. It’s not good cake, mind you. It’s like a giant bran muffin that comes in a suit of armor. You have to open up both sides of the can and then slide it out to even access it.
Does B&M make brown bread in a can?
Canned bread might sound strange to the non-native Yankee to imagine buying bread in a can at the supermarket alongside the baked beans (which B&M also makes with pride), but if you’ve ever steamed a loaf yourself at home, you know it can take awhile, making brown bread in a can a handy alternative. B&M Brown Bread in a can — a New England classic.