Sourdough Toasted Cornmeal Bread – A Twist on a Classic Recipe

The night before, prepare the starter:

Feed your starter the evening before you plan to bake.  An easy way to make sure your starter is 100% hydration is to dump the starter in a bowl and add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of all-purpose flour.  Mix until thoroughly combined and let it sit on the counter overnight. The next morning, pour 1 cup of starter into a large mixing bowl, put the remaining starter in a glass canning jar, and return it to the refrigerator.

Next morning, prep ingredients:

Toast the cornmeal and let it cool to room temperature before mixing the dough.  Place the cornmeal on a shallow baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F. until lightly browned.  Stir the cornmeal often and watch to make sure it doesn’t burn.

If using regular milk (instead of powdered milk), scald the milk to remove unwanted enzymes and let it cool to lukewarm before using it in the dough.

Mix dough/Bulk Fermentation

Add the water, milk, and maple syrup to the starter in the bowl and mix well.

Combine the white flour and cornmeal (hold the salt) and mix thoroughly with the wet ingredients using a wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk.

Incorporate the butter and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Add in the salt and mix thoroughly using wet hands.

Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let it proof for 2 – 3 hours. Perform folds in the bowl every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours, then let the dough rest for the final hour.

Shape loaves/Final proof

Grease two 8 1/2-inch by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans and dust with cornmeal.

Transfer the dough to a floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces, about 1 1/2 pounds each.  Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece into a rectangle about twice as long as the loaf pan to be used.

Fold the dough in half lengthwise.  Roll one end up to the center, carefully flip it over, and roll the other end up to the center in the opposite direction.

Gently place the loaves in the greased loaf pans with the open side of the fold facing down.

Brush the tops generously with butter so that the ridges will remain separated while they are proofing.

Let the loaves proof for 45 minutes to an hour.

Bake/Cool the loaves:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the loaves for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the crust is the desired brownness.  If the loaves are not browning as much as you would like, turn the temperature up to 375 degrees F. and bake for about 5 minutes at the end of the baking cycle.

Transfer the loaves (in the pans) to a wire rack and brush them with melted butter.  Remove them from the pans completely and let them cool on the wire rack.