PORTUGUESE CORN BREAD & SPINACH SWIRLS

There is something that makes me bright eyed and bushy tailed way before sunrise on some a day.
Something special the fragrance of which will have you run to the kitchen. 

And place the butter dish with the danish or french butter and your fav spreader out at the patio , warming in the rising sun , and as you sip in your esspreso or chai flavored with ginger , lemon grass or cardomn or all, let that freshly baked bread melt the butter, the delicate crumb, giving your taste buds , a great sunshine morning. . .

Yeah , no prizes for guessing this one, baking bread for breakfast is a delight i love to indulge in.

Peter r , thru his books, has given me something precious, the span of time, and along with it loads of convience , of proofing in refrigeration.

Slow proofing with instant dry yeast, (oh i love SAF perfect rise sachets but make do with gloripan angel instant yeast most of the time, due to un availia , but gloripan will soon be available in sachets too.


This would be wonderful, coz once opened , the strenght of the yeast declines, even in refrigeration, what i do is use sealers and seal it right back.

 oK back to mornings of bread baking, now you can proof it for the first rise in refrigeration, and knock the dough down shape it, and have the second rise around 2 to 3 hours before baking.Well thats quite early to awake, to get the bread by for breakfast, unless im studying

Sure i can bake a cake , or a crumble and finish all the cooking for the day till then, or sit in the patio , in the cool of the morning breeze, or enjoy the quite shower and gaze at the chives and garlic sprouts , waving thru.
But what i did this time was, had my first rise in the refrigeration , it was double in 2hours flat :)

knock it down, form only 10rolls, in a 9 inch pie plate, cover lightly with an oiled wrap, back into refrigeration and keep the rest of the dough for a second  first rise.

The best parts, that i read later, 2 rises, before shaping will give you a lighter texture. .
Bliss is here.

So good with coffee and lods of blackberry jam, cheese and butter....

 

I love a combi of Butter and sugar too, brown or white!!

Here the first batch,well risen before baking!

With lods of cornmeal sprinkled over!!

 

 Baked this quite a bit ago, when i was without my laptop but the fragrance that wafts and the gorgeous texture and flavor is fresh in my senses!

 Ahh ,the Spinach swirls and these had 2 rises before the final one!

 Spinach rolled as in for swiss rolls with a nice spread of salted butter !

 And 2 of them have cheese in too:-)

 And baked to perfection......

 Oh brush on some butter atop....

 Or maybe some portuguese olive oil [so good]......

RECIPE
adapted from Baking by Martha Day

3/4oz- 20grams fresh yeast [i used half of instant dry yeast]
8 fl oz - 250 ml luke warm water
8oz -225grams maize meal /corn meal [polenta]
1 lb - 450 grams unbleached white flour [used ap flour]
1/4th pint - 150ml milk
2 tbh - 30ml olive oil [i used a little more Portuguese extra virgin olive oil
1.5tsp salt
polenta for dusting

1] Put the yeast in a bowl, and gradually mix in the water till smooth.
Stir in  half the maize meal/polenta and 2 oz [50grams] of the flour and mix to a batter with a wooden spoon.

2] Cover the bowl with lightly oiled [same p.extra virgin oil] cling wrap and leave the batter undisturbed in a warm place [warm oven or micro], for about 30mins or till bubbles start to appear in the surface.
Remove cling wrap.

3]Stir milk into the batter and then olive oil.
Gradually mix in the remaining maize meal/polenta and flour and salt, knead to a smooth pliable dough.

4]Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead for about 10mins till smooth and elastic.

5]Place in a lightly oiled bowl and leave to rise till doubled in bulk [or overnight in refrigeration].

6]Turn out the dough onto floured surface and knock back.

7] Shape into whole loaf or into little mini loaves to fit a pie pan or baking tray, that has been dusted with the polenta/maize meal.


8]Dust with polenta on top,cover with a large upturned bowl and leave for the 2nd rise ,until double in size.

9]Bake for 10 mins in a preheated oven @240 C/450 F/gas mark8 ,spraying the inside of the oven 2 to 3 times with water.
i did many more times coz this activity is so enjoyable.

10]Lower to 190 C/375 F/gas mark5 and bake for a further 20 to 25 mins.
Now this depends on ur oven ,mine takes double the time but what we are looking for is golden,hollow sounding when tapped bread!
 
Enjoy with ur sweet or sav goodies or jus cafe!

Am also Linking these to the excitin Meatless Mondays on Chaya's fantastic blog!!

Am happily linking this bake to Bangalore bakers excitn bake event here !
And its every week ,mind u!!

And Dr.Laura's Tasty tuesdays here