The story goes, I'm told, that a colonial wife was baking bread and decided to throw some of the leftover cornmeal mush into the batter, and her husband said, "Anna, damn her."
I don't know why. It sounds good to me.
Today, I was low on whole wheat flour, so I through in some cornmeal and some unbleached white flour, plus a little molasses.
It isn't the lightest bread ever, but it's sweet a little crunchy at the crust.
1 1/2 cups milk (I used nonfat.)
3 T. butter
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 t. salt
1. pkg. yeast
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup unbleached white flour
Heat the milk and melt the butter, molasses, and honey in it. Pour it into a bowl and cool it slightly. Mix in the yeast. Add the whole wheat flour, cornmeal, and salt, then stir in the white flour.
Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise for 2 hours. (It won't look like much has happened, but don't worry.)
Butter a loaf pan. Pull out the dough, and fold the edges down four times, rotating between each. Shape it into a loaf shape, and place it in the pan. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees, and let the dough rest for about 40 minutes.
Heat up some water to boiling. Put the bread in the oven and the water in a broiler pan or a pie pan on another rack in the oven. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until the bread sounds hollow when you knock on it.
(Okay, I've never been sure about that last knocking bit, but that's what they say...)
4 comments:
I used to bake that all the time when I was about 15. Mmm, delicious!
What fun! I had to comment, because I have bread dough rising right now--I couldn't eat all the oatmeal I made this morning, so I decided to make oatmeal bread. What are the odds, that I'd read your blog at the same time I have bread dough of my own rising gently?
Andrew, how wonderful! Make it again. I don't know whether my recipe is traditional or authentic in any way. I just remember "throw in some cornmeal." And my memory isn't that great.
Kristin, yum! The oatmeal bread sounds delicious. (And I like those odds. Looks like they're in our favor today.)
Perhaps "tap" is a better instruction here rather than "knock"! Sounds yummy.
Post a Comment