Portuguese Corn and Wheat Bread with a Scalded Cornmeal Dough

What you need

• 100 ml (scant 1/2 cup) lukewarm water, for the starter
• 5 g (1 1/2 tsp) instant dry yeast
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 150 g (1 1/4 cups) all-purpose flour, 50 g for the starter, 100 g for the dough, plus extra for dusting
• 250 g (1 2/3 cups) fine yellow cornmeal
• 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) boiling water, for the cornmeal
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
• 1 tsp salt

Method

Restated from the original video

1. 1

   Whisk the lukewarm water, yeast, sugar and 50 g (1/3 cup) of the flour into a loose batter. Cover and leave until bubbly and doubled, 15-20 min.

2. 2

   Put the cornmeal in a large bowl, pour in the boiling water and stir for 1 min until no dry bits remain.

3. 3

   Cool the cornmeal mixture to lukewarm, about 37 °C (99 °F), so it does not kill the yeast.

4. 4

   Stir in the yeast batter, olive oil, salt and the remaining 100 g (3/4 cup) flour.

5. 5

   Knead for 4-5 min into a soft, slightly sticky dough. Dust your hands with flour rather than adding much more to the dough.

6. 6

   Shape the dough into a round ball and set it on parchment paper on a baking tray. Dust the top with flour.

7. 7

   Cover and leave to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. The loaf stays low and wide.

8. 8

   Heat the oven to 200 °C (400 °F) while the dough finishes rising.

9. 9

   Bake until the crust is firm and deep golden and the base sounds hollow when tapped, 45-50 min.

10. 10

    Cool on a rack before slicing.

Imported from gracatruquesdicas.pt. Recipe Grab pulled out what you need to cook it; the video stays where its author put it.