Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sweet Corn Raisin Bread

Happy Sunday to all. Do you ever wonder why you have so many half used packs of different flours in your pantry? May be you don't have them in the first place. But if you check my pantry, you probably can find half the kinds of flour you get in wholefood market. Such a half used pack of cornmeal came out of hibernation when I made this loaf. I would love to find a store where I can get everything as much as I want and not how much they have packaged it. Unfortunately, not all ingredients are available in the bulk bin in the grocery stores and that explains the shortage of space in my pantry.
cornbread

Adapted from: The Fresh Loaf

One Year back - Multigrain Brown Bread, Cake Decorating Basics - Part 4
Ingredients:
Corn meal - 1 cup (I used stone ground yellow cornmeal)
Warm water - 1/2 cup
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 3 TBSP
Instant yeast - 2 tsp
Whole wheat flour - 2 3/4 cups (Start with 2 1/2 cups and add the remaining only if required)
Butter - 2 TBSP
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Vital wheat gluten - 2 TBSP
Raisins - 1 cup

For glaze:
Milk - 1/2 TBSP
Olive oil - 1/2 TBSP
Salt - a pinch
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
You could use egg wash to get a better crust color.
cornbread

Method:
To make the dough using breadmachine:
Place cornmeal in the bread machine pan. Add warm water. Stir and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then add warm coconut milk, sugar, salt, melted butter to the pan followed by flour, gluten and yeast. Set the machine on dough setting. When the machine beeps, add raisins and check the dough consistency and adjust if needed. When the cycle is complete, take out the dough and proceed with shaping and baking.

To make the dough by hand:
Refer to the source - here.

To shape and bake:
Remove the dough from the bowl  or the bread machine pan and deflate it. Then shape either into a ball or your desired shape. Cover the dough with oiled plastic wrap and allow to rise until double again. It took about 40 minutes for mine. I shaped it into a big ball.
cornbread

Towards the end of rising time, preheat the oven to 425 F. Brush the loaf by mixing all the glaze ingredients. Take a razor sharp knife and slash it. As you can see, I am no good at slashing the loaves. I tried to get some design on the loaf and it sucked even more. Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 350 F and continue to bake for another 35 - 40 minutes rotating the pan half way. Bread is done when it is brown and sounds hollow when tapped at the bottom. Remove on to wire rack to cool. If desired, you can brush this with butter. I didn't. This one makes a very good breakfast bread. Great as is and toasted too. I made nutella sandwiches for kids with this bread. We ate them as is too.
cornbread

Linking this to yeastspotting and BBD#36 - 'Corn'y breads.

Enjoy. Pin It

11 comments:

  1. Corn wheat raisin bread is yummy and healthy

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  2. I think you slashed the loaf expertly...and it sounds wonderful! I can just imagine a toasted slice slathered with Nutella right now. Absolutely delicious, thank you for sharing it w/ BBD #36 this month :)

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  3. Sounds very delicious and looks fabulous Champa. I will try this out. The gluten here is less than u usually use, any particular reason for this?

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  4. what can I say? yummmy...btw, which camera do u use to get such amazng pics??

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  5. Thanks everyone for taking time.
    Suma,
    I used 2 TBSP first because I didn't know how much whole wheat flour I would end up using. I was hoping it would take only 2 1/2 cups and thought I would add 1/2 TBSP later. But when it took 2 3/4 cups and was just fine, I didn't want to adjust the water and left it at that. You can use even 1/4 cups of gluten in this and use less wheat flour.

    Harini,
    I have a canon SLR rebel camera. I should say I have no idea how to use it to its fullest potential. I am a very new learner in photography. Thanks anyway for saying they are nice pictures.

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  6. I wanted to make something with the cornmeal I got from my native place and I see this recipe. :-)..Can I substitute coconut milk with soy milk/almond milk?

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  7. Bread looks amazing. I loved the way you have sliced them. Too good, dear.

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  8. The bread looks yumm.....even my pantry is loaded wid lots of flours unused..hmm I need to take initiative to clear them off..

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  9. Priya,
    Yes. The source I used had milk in it. I had some coconut milk on hand that needed to be used up.

    Jayasree, Prathibha,
    Thanks.

    Sum,
    Can't wait to see your creation. I am sure your whole family was proud of you. Keep it up.

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  10. Yes, my dear, I have the same problem with many half used packs of different flours. ;-)

    But sometimes it´s good too, isn´t it. So you could make this wonderful bread without going shopping first. ;-)

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