Wednesday Baking | Cornmeal Loaves
Every now and then, I share a baking recipe with you on Wednesdays. And lots of pictures of said baking recipe. I don't call this Wednesday Baking because I bake solely on Wednesdays...no, my oven gets a workout much more frequently than once a week! All the past baking posts are archived in the Wednesday Baking category.
This is bread, and it's made with cornmeal, but it's not cornbread.
No, this is a yeasted bread, and it's quite different from the baking-powder-leavened variety. I think it's a nice change of pace when you're serving a meal that seems to call for cornbread (like maybe Tortilla Soup).
The dough is fairly sweet and it contains milk and two eggs, so the texture is soft, sort of like a sweet bread dough is. Except this isn't officially a sweet bread, so you can totally eat it at dinnertime. 😉
Like most of my favorite bread recipes, this one starts with flour and yeast in the mixer bowl.
Next, combine the milk, salt, sugar, and butter in a measuring cup and heat to 120 ° F. I do this in the microwave, but you can also dump it all into a pot and heat it over medium-low heat on the stove.
Hi! My name is Kristen and I take lop-sided pictures. Also, I am too lazy to fix them sometimes.
Ok. Mix the heated milk mixture into the flour mixture, add 2 eggs, and beat for 3 minutes. This will produce a pretty soupy batter.
Beat in 1 cup of cornmeal. You can use white cornmeal, but I like to use yellow for the color (I usually buy the Indian Head, which is stoneground whole grain cornmeal.)
Add in enough additional flour to make a soft dough. I never measure my flour at this step, instead relying on what looks right. Turn the soft dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes.
That will take the dough from this:
(psst! See the bench knife over there? I think you need one.)
to this:
Place the dough back into the mixing bowl (I don't even bother to clean mine), cover with a wet tea towel, and let it rise in a warm place for an hour. If your house is cold, turn your oven on for 1 minute, turn it off, and then place the dough bowl inside.
Once the dough has risen, punch it down, turn it out onto a floured counter, and cut it in half. Roll each half out into a rectangular shape, roll it up, starting from the short side, and place each loaf into a bread pan.
You can use 4x8 or 9x5 inch loaf pans for this recipe...the ones in the 4x6 pans will just be kind of tall. I can never decide which I prefer!
Cover the loaves and let them rise 30-45 minutes, or until they look doubled in size.
Bake in a preheated 350 ° F oven for 25-30 minutes, or until they look browned and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
Place the loaves on wire racks to cool.
Here you can kind of see the difference between the 4x8 inch loaf (on the left) and the 9x5 inch loaf.
Once it's cool, slice with a serrated bread knife. And spread with butter.
Cornmeal Loaves-makes 2
Printable Cornmeal Loaves Recipe
6-6 ½ cups flour, divided
2 pkg. (2 ¼ teaspoons each) active dry yeast
2 ¼ cups milk
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup butter
1 tablespoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup yellow cornmeal
In a large mixer bowl, combine the yeast and 3 cups of the flour. Combine milk, sugar, butter, and salt, and heat to 120 ° F. Add to dry mixture in bowl; add eggs. Beat at low speed to combine, then beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in cornmeal and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead for 3-5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Place dough into a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Punch dough down; divide in half. Roll each half into a rectangular shape and roll up, starting with the short end. Pinch seams to seal and place each loaf into a 4x8 or 9x5 inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise 30-45 minutes, or until doubled.
Preheat oven to 350° F. Bake loaves for 25-30 minutes, or until browned. Cool on wire racks.
source: Better Homes and Gardens 1973 Bread Cookbook
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Today's 365 post: "You made more applesauce??"
Have been missing these wednesday baking posts!
looks yummie!
I've been following for a little while and I hadn't even seen any of these baking posts yet. I'm looking forward to more of them!
I'm not a baker so I just skimmed your post, but I love the picture of the mixing bowl where we can see your legs reflected. 🙂
Hee. The bowl acts like a fun mirror, so I seem to have unusually long thighs in that photo!
I noticed your bare feet. Did you take these pictures in summer or are you still running around barefoot?
Oh yes, still barefoot here! It's been a really, really warm fall thus far....only a few days that were able to be classified as chilly.
What a really cool dough.
Do you use a standing mixer? I don't have one of those, but I do have a hand mixer. Could I use that?
"...and spread with butter." It is to laugh.
Like you need to remind us 🙂
I may have to get 4x6 pans. I've been making bread for years and it comes out tasty but short. Which is fine for toast but makes for small lunch sandwiches.
The Williams-Sonoma ones I use are 4x8 (they're the one-pound size, if that helps). The 1.5 pound size are my larger ones.
So glad that you re-posted the type of loaf pans you use. I could not for the life of me remember what kind they were and I want to be sure to get it right, seeing as they are going to go on my Christmas list 🙂
Yay! A Wednesday baking post! Oh, how I have missed them! I just bought some roasted cornmeal and was going to make some cornbread, but I might have to try this recipe. I'm thinking maybe the dough sounds a little sweet to use with roasted cornmeal though...
YUM!! I may try this to go with the chili that is planned for tonight. Thanks!
I so enjoy your Wednesday baking posts.....gives me inspiration to get baking!!
Question? On your recipe you call for 6-6 1/2 cups of flour? I don't understand. Should it just be 6 1/2 cups?
My oldest is allergic to eggs but this seems so yummy it makes me want to try it with the substitutes I use when I back cakes and cookies....do you think it may work? It's a combo of water, oil, and baking powder....works as a good binding agent.
Thanks for all you do for us who need both ideas and inspiration!
That's 6 to 6.5....it's a range, because the amount of flour needed can vary. I never measure my flour at that stage, because it's important to go by feel. If the dough looks right and you've only used 5.5 cups of flour total, you shouldn't feel like you have to add more.
For yeast breads, eggs just add richness and tenderness and don't function as a binder like they do in quick breads. So, you could leave them out entirely (just increase the milk by 1/2 cup to make up for the lost liquid), or you could try your egg substitute (though the baking powder would be entirely unnecessary, since yeast leavens this bread).
Thanks Kristen....it's funny as soon as you "explained" the 6 to 6.5 cups I was like "duh" but I just couldn't grasp that is am.
Thanks for the info about the eggs. My son LOVE any type of bread so I am definitely putting this on my try list for this weekend. I'll let you know who it works out. And thanks for the info about the baking powder...this will also be my first attempt at a homemade bread (ie yeast baking). I'm a dessert baker myself normally. But we just had some cornmeal we had to use up and I wish I would have had this instead of the cornbread recipe my husband found.
I think it means it 6 to 6 1/2 cups.
actually drooling.
hi kristin, i missed your baking spots too, quick question, fine or coarse cornmeal/
I think mine is fine...it's kind of like flour.
BH&G Bread book is one of my favorites too. I've been making this recipe for years. It makes wonderful toast. YUM,YUM!
Wonderful looking bread. I'll try it soon.
I actually have a BH&G Bread Cook Book from 1963!! Got it at the public library discard book sale one year. Better have a closer look at it!
Ooh, it's probably almost like the one I have. My 1970s one is my favorite baking book.
I just started baking bread, and now I want more recipes! I love corn bread, and Bob's Red Mill is just down the road (fresh ground stuff!), so this recipe is just what I want.
I don't have a stand mixer, so I use my egg beaters and then a wooden spoon. The problem is that I have arthritis in my hands, and that makes stirring a heavy batter difficult. I guess if I want to bake breads, I should get a nice stand mixer.
Thanks for all the inspiration!
I've got this recipe sitting on stove rising as I type. We're having corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight and this sounded like a perfect match. I can't wait to try it. I admit that I've been eating the dough and it's darn good.
It's without a doubt fall here in Washington State, I had to go buy a pair of slippers today. My feet are freezing!!
We loved this recipe-especially my dairy-free sons. I used coconut milk and non dairy spread as a substitute and it turned out wonderfully! Yeah! Thanks again Kristen.
Mmm, that looks so yummy. Makes me want to bake...
Maybe tomorrow.
Yummy thanks.
I'm sure this tastes wonderful. We love your buttermilk bread recipe, and thanks to your photo step by step, I use your yogurt recipe. I still buy yogurt too, but we love the plain homemade stuff better. Can't find the Dannon plain in the small individual containers any more. I've tried other brands and Greek yogurt, but it's not quite the same.
I made this last weekend and loved it. I used the course cornmeal and was concerned it was tearing my dough a bit much but the loaves rose and cooked up nicely. Love it toasted. I do think next time I'll soak my cornmeal in the warm liquid a bit before mixing up to see if that keeps it from tearing.