The Cornbread Gospels (28 page)

There is another factor, too, in cornmeal-containing yeast breads: You miss out on some great traditional breads if you stick with straight wheat, however high-rising it may be. There are historic breads, like New England Rye’n’Injun (
page 162
); regional breads, like the famous anadama (
page 165
); and ethnic breads, like the pure and unadorned Portuguese broa, which we already encountered in the Global Cornbreads chapter, on
page 103
. A bread lover’s life would be lacking without the experience of such loaves. In some breads, like the aforementioned broa, heaviness and density are inherent to the pleasure and personality of the bread.

That’s why cornmeal in yeast-risen breads can be so surprisingly delicious. It makes for breads that are rich and diverse in flavor and texture: a wholesome cornucopia in every bite.

M
AKES TWO
8½-
BY
-3¼-
INCH LOAVES

Rye’n’Injun is a favored early New England–style yeasted bread. It combined the Old World grains of rye and wheat with the New World’s corn, the latter often called “Indian meal” or just “injun.” So popular was this combination that the run-together names of its two dominant ingredients became shorthand for the bread itself. These early breads were dense, simple, often raised with sourdough; little more than the “mixture of rye and Indian meal most convenient and agreeable” that Henry David Thoreau baked “before [his] fire outdoors on a shingle” at Walden Pond.

This contemporary version is a bit more highfalutin, enriched with eggs, milk, and fat—precious, once seasonal ingredients, rarely used in early American breads, other than on very special occasions (and then only if the cows were fresh and the chickens laying).

2 cups milk

2 cups stone-ground yellow cornmeal

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons butter

½ cup lukewarm water

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar

1 egg, beaten

1½ cups rye flour

1¾ cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons gluten flour (see Pantry,
page 353
)

About 2½ cups unbleached white flour, plus extra for kneading

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1.
Place the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, combine the cornmeal, brown sugar, molasses, salt, and butter in a large heat-proof bowl.

2.
When the milk is scalding hot (almost but not quite boiling), pour it over the cornmeal mixture, and stir well. Let stand until lukewarm, about 10 minutes.

3.
During the last few minutes of this cooling time, combine the lukewarm water, yeast, and white sugar in a small cup (I usually do this right in the glass measuring cup). Set aside until bubbly, about 10 minutes.

4.
Stir the yeast mixture with the egg into the cooled cornmeal mixture, and stir in the rye flour. Add the whole wheat flour, then the
gluten flour, then the unbleached flour, a cup at a time, to make a fairly stiff dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and let it rest for a few minutes while you wash, dry, and oil the bowl in which it was mixed. Also spray two 8½-by-3¼-inch loaf pans with oil.

5.
Knead the dough until it is somewhat springy and elastic and much less sticky, 5 or 6 minutes. Return the dough to the oiled bowl, cover with a clean cloth, and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Then punch it down, divide the dough in half, and shape it into 2 loaves, placing one in each of the prepared bread pans. Cover again, and let rise until doubled again. This second rise will be about 35 to 45 minutes. When about 30 minutes have passed, preheat the oven to 400°F.

6.
Bake the risen loaves for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350°F and bake until the crust is firm and warmly brown, 30 minutes more. Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then on racks for at least 10 minutes more before tearing into them.

M
AKES TWO
9-
BY
-5-
INCH LOAVES

I’ve tasted many an anadama, the molasses-sweetened, single most famous yeast-raised cornbread. Whatever the word anadama’s origins (see What’s in the Name?,
page 167
), I’ve never met one I didn’t like. But when I tasted the Gap Mountain version, honey, with one bite I knew I was in anadama heaven. Lighter-textured than most, it had a mysterious, delicious
je ne sais quoi.
As in the John Collier short story “The Touch of Nutmeg Makes It,” it turned out to be that very spice that made the bread so over the top, although you don’t detect it as such. Unlike many anadamas, in this recipe the cornmeal is not presoftened in boiling water, so be sure to use relatively fine-ground cornmeal, not corn grits.

The recipe is courtesy of Diane Kellner, owner of Gap Mountain Bakery and Cafe, once the social and culinary center of the tiny town of Troy, New Hampshire, now located in larger Keene. I scaled down the fourteen loaves to a manageable home-size batch of two.

2 packages active dry yeast

2 cups lukewarm water

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons blackstrap molasses

1 cup fine stone-ground cornmeal, any color (Diane uses yellow)

¾ teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

3½ to 4 cups unbleached white flour, plus extra for kneading

1¾ to 2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons salt

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1.
Combine the yeast and lukewarm water in a large bowl. Let stand until the yeast dissolves and gets a bit bubbly, about 10 minutes. Stir in the canola oil and molasses and let stand 1 minute longer.

2.
Stir in the remaining ingredients (except the cooking spray!) in the order given, starting with 3¼ cups of the white flour and 1½ cups of the whole wheat flour, “making sure to add the salt last so it does not come in contact with the yeast,” as Diane warns.

3.
Mix thoroughly, beating with a wooden spoon, until the dough reaches the desirable texture: moist but not sticky, and kneadable. The exact amount of flour required will vary with the humidity; add more as needed, using two parts white to one part whole wheat.

4.
Knead the dough thoroughly for about 5 minutes, adding a little more flour as you need to, but not too much; this is, again, a somewhat moist dough.

5.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1½ hours. Punch down, cover again, and allow the dough to rise a second time, again until doubled; this second rise will run 45 to 50 minutes. Meanwhile, spray two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans with oil.

6.
Punch the dough down again and divide it in half. Form into loaves, and place the loaves in the prepared loaf pans. Let rise a third time, again covered, this time until not quite doubled in bulk, 30 to 35 minutes. Toward the end of this rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.

7.
Bake the loaves until nicely browned, and crusty on both tops and bottoms, 45 to 55 minutes. (How to tell on the bottoms? Grasp a pan in one pot-holdered hand; flip the loaf out onto a second pot-holdered hand, and check. The bottom should be lightly browned and firm. If the loaf is not fully done, return it to the pan and give it a few minutes more.)

8.
Remove the baked loaves from the pans immediately, and let cool on a rack. Don’t cut the bread for at least 30 minutes.

M
AKES ONE
8½-
BY
-4½-
INCH LOAF

The herbal flavor in this dense and close-grained bread is neither subtle nor overwhelming: Like Baby Bear’s porridge, it’s just right. It works alongside stews, makes wonderful toast (especially with Jarlsberg cheese
melted on top), and always perks up a simple egg salad or a ham-and-cheese sandwich. And, it’s just about perfect with the occasional soft-boiled breakfast egg. The cornmeal is not recognizable as such; you will merely celebrate its presence in the characteristic crunch of pleasant texture it leaves behind.