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Portuguese Corn Bread

rls-1850@juno.com
Tue, 14 May 2002 13:00:20 -0500
v102.n021.9
This is for Ann, who asked for a recipe for salaio, a coarse white 
Portuguese bread.  A Portuguese name is not given for the following bread 
recipe, though there's a very similar recipe in _Breads of the World_ by 
Mariana Honig (Berkley edition, 1979), and in that book it's called Broa.
But maybe this is close to what you're after.  It's from _The Cook's 
Encyclopedia of Bread_ by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter (Barnes and 
Noble edition, 2000).

	Portuguese Corn Bread

"While the Spanish make a corn bread with barley flour, the Portuguese use 
white flour and cornmeal.  This tempting version has a hard crust with a 
moist, mouthwatering crumb.  It slices beautifully and tastes wonderful 
served simply with butter or olive oil, or with cheese."

3/4 ounce fresh yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
2 cups yellow cornmeal
4 cups white bread flour
2/3 cup lukewarm milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
polenta, for dusting

Makes 1 Large Loaf

1  Dust a baking sheet with a little cornmeal.  Put the yeast in a large 
bowl and gradually mix in the lukewarm water until smooth.  Stir in half 
the cornmeal and 1/2 cup of the flour and mix to a batter, with a wooden spoon.

2  Cover the bowl with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let the batter sit 
undisturbed in a warm place for about 30 minutes or until bubbles start to 
appear on the surface.  Remove the plastic wrap.

3  Stir the milk into the batter, then stir in the olive oil.  Gradually 
mix in the remaining cornmeal, flour and salt to form a pliable dough.

4  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 
minutes, until smooth and elastic.

5  Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and 
let rise, in a warm place, for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.

6  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and punch down. Shape 
into a round ball, flatten slightly and place on the prepared baking 
sheet.  Dust with polenta, cover with a large upturned bowl and let rise, 
in a warm place, for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Meanwhile, 
preheat the oven to 450 F.

7  Bake for 10 minutes, spraying the inside of the oven with water 2 - 3 
times.  Reduce the oven temperature to 375 F and bake for another 20 - 25 
minutes or until golden and hollow sounding when tapped on the 
bottom.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

VARIATION  Replace 50 percent of the yellow cornmeal with polenta for a 
rougher textured, slight crunchier loaf.

****

Ms. Honig's version in _Breads of the World_ uses white cornmeal instead of 
yellow and calls for grinding the cornmeal very fine in a blender and then 
pouring boiling water over it.  She also uses no milk and proofs her (dry) 
yeast with a little sugar and 1/2 cup lukewarm water.  Her recipe's 
proportions are a little different from those of the recipe given above, 
but the bread appears to be basically the same one.