Monday, February 29, 2016

Broa de Milho - Portuguese Cornbread

Do you know baking bread at home is like a child play if the yeast god behave well with you. I love baking bread myself at home, obviously bread is one of our staple food after rice. Though i do bake variety of breads, am yet to try Sourdough breads. However baking bread by ourself will definitely makes everyone at home happy. Needless to say that baking is quite a stress burster, my today's post is Broa aka Portuguese corn bread, this bread is traditionally made in Portugal and in Brazil (where it is traditionally seasoned with fennel). Not like the Usual cornbread, this broa is made with a mixture of cornmeal and wheat or rye flour which is leavened with yeast.

Portuguese Cornbread, Broa, Broa de Milho


The name Broa comes from Gothic word Brauth, that means bread. Broa is a dense bread with a fine crumb. Obviously this bread is excellent as a dipping bread to serve along with soups and stews. Traditionally this bread is served along with a Potato,spinach/kale soup called Caldo de verde,however you can serve this soup with any hearty and healthy soups. Today's bread asks for cooking cornmeal in boiling water and letting it cool before adding to the other ingredients to knead as a dough. And this bread goes to this month's We Knead to Bake, a baking event by Aparna.


Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour
2+1/2cups All purpose flour
1 cup Yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup Hot water
1/2 cup Warm Milk
2tsps Instant yeast
1tsp Salt
2tbsp Honey
1tbsp Olive oil

Mix together the cornmeal and hot water in a small bowl. Stir in the warm milk, and let the mixture cool to lukewarm.

Then add the flour,yeast,salt,honey and olive oil,mix everything well and knead them together to form a smooth, slightly sticky dough.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover the dough with a paper towel and let it rise for 2 hours.

Turn the dough out to a lightly greased or floured surface, knead it lightly and form it into a ball.

Place it over a  baking sheet lined over a baking tray. Cover it and let it rise for 45 minutes.

Broa de Milho,Portuguese Bread

Preheat the oven to 450°F,spritz it lightly with water and make few slashes on the top crust. Dust the top with flour.

Arrange the loaf in the oven and bake it for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 400°F, bake for another 15 minutes or until the top turns golden brown.

Let it cool completely, slice as per need and enjoy.

1 comment:

Rafeeda AR said... Reply To This Comment

I totally agree... the yeast has to be very kind! :) Your bread has turned out very well, was not able to source cornmeal so had to skip baking this...