We are definitely bread eaters, and we like to eat bread with dinner every night. Besides, eating a lot of bread gives me a lot of good reasons for baking bread, which I love to do. So when we had our Portuguese dinner for Tim & Leslie, I made some Portuguese cornbread, or broa de milho, for the occasion too.
Portuguese Cornbread
This bread is best when served hot, straight out of the oven and smeared with soft, creamy butter, on the same day.
2 packages of dry active yeast or 4 1/2 tsp
1 cup warm water
3 1/2 cups flour + more for dusting
2 cups yellow cornmeal
2 TBSP salt
1 1/4 cups boiling water
Dissolve the yeast into the warm water and let set for about 10 minutes or until it gets frothy. Add about 1 1/2 cups of flour and mix in thoroughly. Cover and let rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until it doubles in size.
Mix the cornmeal and salt together then mix with a paddle attachment. Add the boiling water and mix at a medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until it starts to clump together.
Switch fom the paddle attachment to the dough hook on your mixer. Add the yeast mixture and 2 cups of flour and knead on low speed. Add more flour as needed and mix everything together until it forms into a firm, elastic dough. This should take about 7 minutes.
Line a baking pan with parchment paper and sprinkle some cornmeal on the bottom. Turn the dough on a lightly floured surface a few times, then cut in half and form into 2 balls. Knead the dough and stretch it to form into 2 ovals. You are looking for round balls with tight surfaces.
Dust the tops with flour and cover and let rise for about 45 minutes or until it once again doubles in size.
Preheat the oven to 475* F or 246*C.
Place in the oven and bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until it is golden brown and crackly on top and hollow when tapped on the bottom. Spray the oven with water 3 times within the first 10 minutes of baking to create steam which will make for a nice crispy crust. Allow to cool for a little bit before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
Bread is the food of life, and it is much better served with lots of butter too. 🙂 Have a great day and make everyday great, no matter what you do. Life is short. Live life to the fullest and enjoy the ride and all the adventures that come your way. ‘Til next time.
Man, I sure do love bread!! I will be making this one for sure. Do you use AP or bread flour? I think you should do a series of bread posts!!😂💜💜
PS: I have that bread cookbook as well!💜💜
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Thank you. I use both, but more so than not I just use AP flour. I’ll think about it. 🙂
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That smells wonderful!
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Yes it did too while baking. 🙂
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