Portuguese Cornmeal White Bread Pão A Moda De Sao Miguel Food

PORTUGUESE CORNMEAL BREAD

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, stir togethercornmeal and boiling water. Placebowl in an ice-water bath and letstand, stirring mixture a few times,until cold to the touch, about 10minutes. In a large bowl, whisktogether flour, salt, sugar, andyeast. Make a well in dry mixtureand add cornmeal mixture andcold water. Stir until a wet doughforms and no dry flour remains.Cover bowl with plastic wrap andlet rise at room temperature untildough quadruples in volume andtop appears bubbly, at least 12 hoursand up to 18 hours.
• Brush the bottom and sides of a 4-to-5-quart Dutch oven (about 9 1/2 inches in diameter), preferably enameled cast iron, with oil. Sprinkle generously with cornmeal and flour to ensure an even coating. With lightly oiled hands, punch down dough, pour out onto a clean work surface, and shape into a ball. Transfer to Dutch oven; lightly sprinkle top with more cornmeal and flour. Cover Dutch oven with plastic wrap and letrise at room temperature until doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees with rack in lower third. Using the tip of a sharp knife, slash top of dough in a few places to a depth of 1 inch. Lightly sprinkle top of dough with water. Cover Dutch oven with lid, transfer to oven, and reduce temperature to 450 degrees. Bake until bread is puffed and brown, 45 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until a thermometer inserted into center of loaf registers 190 degrees to 200 degrees, about 15 minutes more. Let cool in Dutch oven on a wire rack 15 minutes, then turn bread out onto rack and let cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing and serving. (Or store, unsliced and wrapped in parchment-lined foil at room temperature up to 3 days, or sliced and frozen up to 3 months.)

PAO DE MILHO ( PORTUGUESE CORNBREAD )

Steps:

• Please note that the corn flour in this recipe is NOT cornstarch; you should be able to find corn flour at your grocery store in either the aisle where flour is sold, or in the aisle where ethnic foods are sold.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix the cornmeal and salt together, then add the boiling water and stir until smooth.
• Let this cool until mixture is lukewarm (should take about 10 minutes).
• Meanwhile, in a measuring cup, dissolve the sugar in 1/2 cup of the lukewarm water and sprinkle in the yeast; let stand for 10 minutes.
• Now rapidly whisk the yeast mixture with a fork and then stir into the cornmeal mixture.
• A bit at a time, mix in the all-purpose flour, stopping a few times to slowly add in the remaining 1/2 cup lukewarm water; blend this mixture well, until completely combined.
• Turn this mixture out onto a well-floured surface and knead until elastic and all ingredients are well blended; this will likely take about 10 minutes.
• If you need to -- and only if you NEED to -- add a bit more flour; you will likely need to if your kitchen is at all humid, as that can keep the dough a little sticky.
• When smooth and elastic, gather the dough into a ball.
• Lightly grease a fairly large mixing bowl and put the dough into bowl, turning dough so it is greased all over.
• Cover bowl with a clean tea towel, place in a draft-free area (try the top of your fridge, or inside your oven -- not turned on of course) and let dough rise until doubled in bulk, which should take about 90 minutes.
• Now punch down the dough and shape it into either one round loaf or two small ones; have ready a well greased baking sheet or a well greased pie plate.
• Roll the loaf (loaves) in corn flour until well covered, then, if you've made the two small loaves, place on baking sheet, or if you've prepared just the one large loaf, place on pie plate.
• Cover with clean tea towel and let rise in a draft-free place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.
• Sprinkle with additional corn flour just before baking.
• Bake bread in preheated 450F oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom; they should be golden brown and crusty on top.
• Transfer to wire racks and wait impatiently for them to cool.