Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Portugese Corn Bread, aka BROA


When I lived in AZ, I met a wonderful girl named Eunice, (pronounce ow-knee-say- kinda). So beautiful the way she pronounced it. She was Portugese and came from San Paolo. We became quick friends. Upon returning from Brazil, she brought some sun cured meat home that is not available here in the States. She and her husband had me and a couple other people over for feijoda. WHOA. It was good. And REAL salty. It is customary I guess to serve oranges after the meal to help with the saltiness. I loved the time we had at their house. Eating, hanging out and just being silly.

I must say that Portugese is an amazingly beautiful language to listen to.

Recently I came upon this recipe for Broa, a yeasted corn bread. It's Portugese. I decided to give it a try. I really like corn bread and a yeasted corn bread piqued my interest. It's not sweet like traditional American corn bread but it is not dry either. The bread is also used in a dish that I will post in a couple days.

I am sending this one over to Susan at Wild Yeast. She always has such beautiful breads!

BROA

from Bernard Claytons, New Complete Book of Breads

1 1/2 cups yellow corn meal
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 T olive oil
2 pkg. dry yeast
2 c bread flour, approx.

Grind cornmeal to a powder in a food processor. You may skip this step, but the product will not be as smooth.

Mix until smooth: 1 c of the powdered cornmeal, the salt and
the water. Add olive oil, and cool to lukewarm. Blend in the yeast.

Gradually add the remaining cornmeal and 1 c flour, mixing constantly. Add more flour if dough is still sticky. Rise until double in volume.

Knead until firm. Shape into round loaf. Rise until double. Bake @ 350 for about 30 to 40 minutes.

7 comments:

grace said...

what a unique cornbread! i love learning things about new cultures, especially when food is involved. :)

The Blonde Duck said...

I love cornbread! Unfortunately, unless it's in a Jiffy box, Ben won't eat it. :)

Lori said...

Grace- Me too, definitely. If I could have picked any career based on how much I liked rather than if I could find a job or not, I would have chosen to be a sociologist.

Blonde Duck- I tell yah, Jiffy does a darn good product. Maybe you could sell it as bread with corn in it. Maybe?

Anonymous said...

Lori, I suspect you need, want, and may smack your sweet lips over several times, THE CORNBREAD GOSPELS (http://www.amazon.com/Cornbread-Gospels-Crescent-Dragonwagon/dp/0761119167), my most recent cookbook. (Yes, strange though it sounds, this is what I spend much of my life doing --- like, six recent years on cornbread, following the golden crumbs...) Moreover, I will grovel (politely) to my publisher, Workman, and see if I can't get 'em to send you a review copy. If you want a copy, just e me your snailmail address, to crescent@dragonwagon.com. There's a broa recipe in there, as much as many, many others, and a large serving of the culture surrounding this food, so much loved, so often misunderstood... I promise you, it'll get you thinking outside the (Jiffy) box ... well, you already do. By the way, I too love the sound of spoken Portuguese --- one of my favorite restaurants s Brazilian and honestly, just the sound of the staff talking to each other is a real addition to the experience. Oh, GOSPELS also has a Caldo Verde recipe, the amazing kale soup that traditionally goes with broa... Anyway, if you want one, it's yours, and I hope you'll enjoy every bite / sentence. Warmly, CD

kat said...

Oh I need to try this next time I make a chili

Susan said...

I love yeasted corn bread and this looks great! Interesting that it is kneaded after the first rise.

Unknown said...

This looks great. I absolutely love corn bread. I have never had a yeasted corn bread, I will bookmark this to try. How long did each of your risings take?

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