For Bread Baking Day #36 hosted by girliechef, I had been planning to reproduce a corn bread I had seen in other blogs made after a recipe from Jeffrey Hamelman.

It turned out, instead of corn flour I only had cornmeal at hand. Therefore I changed plans and decided to bake a bread with boiled, dry cornmeal instead, according to a recipe which I had done before with oven baked potatoes as well as another version with beetroot. The original recipe is from the book: 'Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes', also from Jeffrey Hamelman.

Since the cornmeal needed quite a bit of fluid I used less water for the dough. The dough was easy to handle, but I assume I gave it too much time to prove, since it lost all the gained height once taken out of the banneton. Luckily the dough re-gained some height in the oven and I ended up with something that could be called corn bread.

Ingredients: (for 2 breads)

hot soaker:
250 g cornmeal
100 ml walnut oil
300 ml water

Pâte Fermentée:
300 g strong white flour (Germany: wheat flour type 550)
195 g water (lukewarm)
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. dry yeast (approx. 0,3 g)

dough:
hot soaker (all of it at room temperature)
550 g strong white flour (Germany: wheat flour type 550)
150 g wholemeal wheat flour
315 g water (lukewarm)
18 g salt
11,9 g dry yeast
500 g pâte fermentée (all of it)


handling:

the evening before baking day:
For the hot soaker stir walnut oil into cornmeal and let soak for 10 minutes. Than add 300 ml water and bring to boil briefly just as long as all fluid is soaked up or evaporated. Be careful to stir, while you wait.
Leave in the open pot soaked to cool off and stir with a fork occasionally. To remove surplus fluid leave open over night.

For pâte fermentée solve yeast in lukewarm water and add it to flour and salt. Stir thoroughly and leave covered at room temperature over night. (12 to 16 hours)


baking day:
Mix all ingriedients except pâte fermentée in a bowl. Than knead using a kitchen machine or (as I did) according to Dan Lepards dough handling method.

After mixing all ingredients (all lumps squashed and liquid paddles stirred in) let the dough sit in it's covered bowl for 10 minutes. Than get the dough out onto a slightly oiled working surface and knead gently. At the end add pâte fermentée by the piece and knead till it's mixed in thoroughly.

Repeat 10 minute rest (in covered, cleaned and oiled bowl) and subsequent kneading (15 sec) twice.

Leave the dough covered for 70 more minutes and fold twice after 25 and 50 minutes.

Split the dough into two halves and form balls. Leave covered for 5 minutes to relaxe. Form two loafs and put them into bannetons seam side up. Let prove for 1 1/4 hours. (I left mine for nearly 1 3/4 hours which was too long).

If you don't mind a crispy crust (as well as loosing your bread's shape), roll your loaf on a moist baking cloth and in cornmeal afterwards before putting it onto your bread peel.

Pre-heat brick to 230°C and bake bread for 40 minutes. If you do have the option to add steam, do so at the beginning.



bottom line: It could have done with a touch more salt. Tastes all-right but you wouldn't notice the walnut taste from the oil. Skip the cornmeal on top, if you don't like crunchy bread crusts.

see more information and round-ups of former bread baking day challenges at Kochtopf.