The Cornbread Gospels (30 page)

2 packages active dry yeast

1 cup lukewarm water

1 tablespoon salt

½ cup stone-ground cornmeal, preferably blue (see Pantry,
page 349
)

½ cup mesquite meal (see Pantry,
page 355
)

2½ to 2¾ cups whole wheat flour

2½ to 3 cups unbleached white flour

⅓ cup brown sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1½ cups pumpkin or winter squash purée (preferably fresh but canned is alright in a pinch), warm or at room temperature

Vegetable oil cooking spray

⅔ cup chopped hickory nuts, black walnuts, or roasted, salted pumpkin seeds

⅔ cup dried cranberries or blueberries, or chopped dates

1.
Proof the yeast in the warm water in a large bowl until lively and bubbly, about 10 minutes.

2.
While waiting for the yeast to proof, combine the salt, cornmeal, mesquite meal, and the lesser amounts of both the whole wheat and unbleached white flours in a large bowl.

3.
After the yeast has done its thing, whisk into it the brown sugar, egg, butter, and pumpkin purée. Next beat in 2 cups of the flour-mesquite mix. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 45 minutes to an hour. (This wet dough is called a sponge.)

4.
Stir down the sponge, and incorporate the remaining flour-mesquite mixture into it. At some point you will be able to turn the dough out on a floured bread board and knead it, using additional whole wheat and white flours as needed, until smooth and not too sticky. Let the kneaded dough rest on the bread board for a moment while you wash and dry the dough bowl. (If you use hot water and leave the bowl a little warm, so much the better for the yeast.) Spray the bowl with oil.

5.
Now, come back to the dough. Knead in the nuts and dried fruit. This will take a bit of time and effort. Transfer the fruited, kneaded dough to the prepared bowl and let rise, covered, in a warm place until rounded and doubled in bulk (or nearly so), 1½ hours.

6.
Spray 5 small loaf pans with oil. Punch down the risen dough and divide it into 5 equal portions, shaping each into a loaf and putting it in the bread pan. Let rise again, covered, until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour this time around.

7.
In the final 15 minutes of the bread’s last rise,
preheat the oven to 425°F. Then, just before you put the loaves in, lower the heat to 350°F. Let the mini-loaves bake until nicely browned and firm of crust, about 25 minutes. Let cool on a rack before slicing into them.

Substitute hazelnut oil for the butter and the vegetable oil cooking spray, and use chopped, toasted hazelnuts instead of the nuts or seeds called for.

M
AKES
1
ROUNDED LOAF

This eggy, sweet cornmeal bread—scented with anise—is adapted from a recipe by Carol Field, a wonderful baker and an authority on Italian cuisine. I’ve added some aniseeds and golden raisins. The result is purely wonderful, ideal for breakfast—or even for dessert, with vanilla ice cream.

1 package active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup unbleached white flour, plus extra for kneading

¼ cup Sambuca (anise liqueur)

⅓ cup golden raisins

1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal

¾ cup sugar

1 to 2 teaspoons aniseeds

¾ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

⅓ cup butter, at room temperature

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1.
Combine the yeast, warm water, and milk in a medium bowl, and proof it until nice and foamy, 5 to 8 minutes. Then beat in the unbleached white flour, making a thick sponge. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for about 2 hours.

2.
Meanwhile, combine 3 tablespoons of the Sambuca with the raisins in a small bowl and let the raisins plump in the liqueur. Stir once in a while to distribute everything.

3.
After the sponge’s 2-hour rise, beat in the cornmeal and sugar. Drain the raisins and add any residual liquid from the raisins to the sponge, along with the aniseeds, salt, and eggs. Work in the butter, and finally the drained soaked raisins.

4.
On a floured board, using as much additional flour as you need to get the dough just unsticky enough to be kneadable, knead the dough until it is satiny smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. Like most eggy doughs, it’s a pleasure to work with, smooth and voluptuous.

5.
Spray a deep, rounded 6-to-8-cup casserole dish with oil. Transfer the dough into it, cover with a clean cloth, and let rise in a cozy warm place until doubled in bulk, 2 to 3 hours.

6.
Toward the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 375°F. When the oven has reached temperature and the bread has risen, brush the bread gently with the remaining tablespoon of Sambuca, and pop it in the oven. Let this fragrant rounded moon of a bread bake for 50 minutes to an hour. Set it, in its baking dish, on a rack to cool for about 30 minutes, then turn it out onto the rack to finish cooling.

M
AKES
3
TO
4
DOZEN ROLLS

I make only one cornmeal-based roll dough, featured here. Why just the one? Because (she says modestly), it’s perfect.

There’s a second reason: The dough is lovely to work with—silky, sensuous, with a most satisfactory rise—and accommodatingly variable (part of its perfection). You can make simple round rolls, the method for which I’ve given here. But truth be told, I like the elaborations even more: the darling Maple Cornmeal Butterhorns (shaped like small croissants, but with pleasing heft and texture;
page 182
) and the most exquisite Cinnamon Walnut Sticky Buns (
page 180
). In fact, almost any shape or type of slightly sweet rich roll—Parker House, cloverleaf—can be made from this basic recipe, which can
itself be varied quite a bit (for more on this, see “Triple Crowning” the Rolls,
page 179
).

When these whole-grainy and light, sweet and hearty rolls are tucked while still warm into a napkin-lined basket and partnered with a soup or salad, they’re hard to beat. The sweet-salty oatmeal-sprinkled glaze is not strictly necessary, but it is very tasty, and it gives the finished rolls a certain rustic charm.

You can partially make these ahead of time, finishing them at the last minute (see
page 180
)—a good idea if you are planning to serve them for a big-deal meal, such as Thanksgiving.

2 cups buttermilk

½ cup pure maple syrup

2 teaspoons salt

¼ cup (½ stick) butter, at room temperature

1⅓ cups stone-ground yellow or white cornmeal

4 to 5 tablespoons oatmeal (rolled oats)

1 egg

2 egg yolks

2 packages active dry yeast

½ cup lukewarm water

1 teaspoon sugar

2½ to 3 cups unbleached white flour

2½ to 3 cups whole wheat flour

Vegetable oil cooking spray

Sweet-Salty Glaze (
recipe follows
)

1.
Bring the buttermilk almost to a boil in a small pot. It will curdle, but that doesn’t matter. As it’s heating, combine, in a large heat-proof bowl, the maple syrup, salt, butter, cornmeal, and 2 tablespoons of the oatmeal (reserve the rest for sprinkling on the rolls after they’re glazed). When the buttermilk is good and hot, pour it over this mixture. Stir it well, so that the butter melts and all is well combined. Cover and let cool until softened and lukewarm, about 15 minutes. Beat in the egg and egg yolks.

2.
Meanwhile, combine the yeast, lukewarm water, and sugar in a large measuring cup. Let stand until the cornmeal mixture has cooled, by which time the yeast will soften, then dissolve, then start to bubble. Add this to the now-lukewarm cornmeal mixture, along with 1 cup of the white flour and 1 cup of the whole wheat.

3.
Using a wooden spoon, beat the dough with vigor for about 2 minutes, then gradually add more of the flours, ½ cup or so at a time, alternating white and wheat. Keep adding, stirring hard after each addition, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, becoming almost kneadable (by the time you have added about 4 cups total flour). Transfer the dough to a floured work surface.

4.
Begin to knead, again adding the flours alternately a little at a time, until the dough is smooth and elastic, more tender than many doughs, 5 to 6 minutes.

5.
Spray a bowl with oil and place the dough in it. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Go ahead and clean your kneading surface, getting all the flour off it, drying it well, and lightly oiling it.

6.
Spray two 12-inch round pans with 2-inch-deep sides, three 9-inch round pans with 2-inch sides, or three 12-cup muffin tins with the oil. Punch down the risen dough and turn it out onto the kneading surface. Divide the dough into about 3 dozen equal pieces (or to finish the dough in three different ways, see “Triple Crowning” the Rolls,
page 179
). Roll each piece into a ball about 1½ inches in diameter and place it in the oiled pans or muffin cups. Cover with towels, and let rise again in a warm place until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

7.
In the last 15 minutes of this period, preheat the oven to 375°F. When the rolls are ready, bake them for about 15 minutes, preparing the glaze as they bake.

8.
Remove the partially baked rolls from the oven and brush the glaze over them. Then sprinkle with the remaining 2 or 3 tablespoons of oatmeal. Return the rolls to the oven and bake until the glaze is shiny and deeply brown, 5 to 8 minutes.

9.
Take the rolls from the oven and remove them from the pans. Let cool on wire racks until warm, then transfer them to a napkin-lined basket and serve.