This is our family's
favorite daily bread. It has a nice
chewy texture and makes absolutely wonderful toast. I triple this recipe (for which, it turns
out, the amount of flour required is almost precisely one 5 lb. bag) and make
six loaves, freezing a mess for future use.
A tip about frozen bread: always thaw it out of the bag or whatever it
has been frozen in; otherwise water tends to condense on the crust which leaves
it soggy. Bon apetite.
CORN MEAL BREAD
INGREDIENTS
1/2 C. cornmeal
1 C. water
1 t. salt
2 packages yeast
1/2 C. warm water
1 T. granulated sugar
1 C. cold milk
2 t. salt
1/4 C. dark or light brown
sugar (or molasses may be substituted)
4-5 C. unbleached all
purpose flour
INSTRUCTIONS
Stir cornmeal, 1 C. water,
and 1t. salt together in a saucepan and heat,
stirring, until it cooks up thick. Proof
the yeast in the 1/2 C. warm water along with the granulated sugar. Put cornmeal mixture into a bowl with the
milk, brown sugar, and 2 t. salt and stir well; the mixture will be warm but
should not be hot enough to harm the yeast.
Add the yeast mixture and then stir in, one cup at a time, the flour
until you have a kneadable mixture.
Continue kneading until "smooth and elastic". Put into a buttered bowl, turn to coat dough
ball with butter, cover with a dish towel, and let rise until doubled. Punch down, put into two pans which have been
well greased and dusted with cornmeal, cover with a dish towel, and let rise
until doubled again. Put into a
preheated 425 oven for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 and
continue baking for about 20 more minutes; bake the loaves for another 5
minutes or so without the pan to crisp up the crust. Bread is done when nicely browned and hollow
sounding when tapped with your knuckles.
Cool on racks. This, like
virtually all breads, should not be cut when hot! Lots of people like to do this but the bread
develops its best texture by cooling.