No, it’s not what you think. This is not the yellow stuff you make to go with chili and soup (mine comes out of a Jiffy box!). This is a delicious yeast-raised bread sweetened with honey. A childhood favorite my mom always made when I was growing up: perfect comfort food for the Winter season! I made a few adjustments to the directions to make it easier to follow.
Corn Bread
Ingredients:
1/2 C. cornmeal
1 3/4 C. cold water
2 Tbls. unsalted butter
1/2 C. honey
1 tsp. salt
1 package or 2 1/4 tsp. yeast
1/4 C. warm water
4-5 C. bread flour
Directions:
1. In a medium saucepan, cook the cornmeal and 1 3/4 C. cold water together–stirring constantly with a wooden spoon–until thick. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in the butter, honey, and salt. Allow mixture to cool to room temp.
3. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 C. warm water (110 degrees is optimal–if it is too hot, it will kill the yeast!) Stir into above mixture.
4. Add enough bread flour to make a stiff dough (about 5 C.)
5. Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and elastic. (I did this with the dough hook on my electric mixer.)
6. Place dough in a large, greased stainless steel bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set bowl in a warm place to rise until double in volume.
7. Punch dough down. Divide in half. Shape each half into a loaf. Roll the top in cornmeal. Place each loaf in a buttered loaf pan.
8. Set pans in a warm place & cover with a dish towel. Allow loaves to rise again until double in volume.
9. When loaves are nearly ready, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
10. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce temp. to 350 degrees. Bake until loaves are nicely browned and hollow-sounding when tapped, about 45 minutes.
Yield: 2 loaves
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