The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Polenta flour

Dave W's picture
Dave W

Polenta flour

Today I bought a 500g bag of polenta flour from my sons Deli, any bead recipie ideas anyone please ?

Cheers

Dave W

Dave W's picture
Dave W

should have typed "bread" not bead, sorry.(not even had a drink yet!)

Cheers

Dave W

xaipete's picture
xaipete

Dave, I think polenta flour is just finely ground corn meal. You could probably use it in any recipe that calls for corn meal.

--Pamela

charbono's picture
charbono

 

 

I have to question anything labeled polenta flour.  There are three general grades of dry milled corn, in increasing granulation: flour, meal, and grits.  Polenta is one of the finer grades of grits.  One of the sites that shows various grades is here:  http://www.didionmilling.com/productscorn.aspx

 

If you are planning to add polenta to bread dough, I'd recommend a prior soak.

 

cb

TeaIV's picture
TeaIV

I definitley agree with the soak. watch out, because when you make polenta, it's easy to get lumps of dry polenta flour in there.

 

how about making the balkan Palitzka (po-lee-ts-koh)? just boil it with some water and make sure there are no said lumps. serve it with milk. It was originally peasant food, and although it's not bread... it's pretty darn good.

joem6112's picture
joem6112

We use a POLENTA recipe and  top it with a Bolognese sauce or a mushroom sauce. DELICIOUS!! but not in bread

possum-liz's picture
possum-liz

I use about 10-12% polenta and about 15% whole wheat flour (both in the soaker) in my regular sourdough recipe and add mashed roasted pumpkin (about 15% of the flour weight). If the pumpkin is a bit wet I reduce the water a little.  A few toasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds are a nice addition as well.

I really haven't settled on an exact recipe to post but it usually turns out quite tasty when I bake it.

Liz

Dave W's picture
Dave W

Now ive found a recipe for corn bread in the "Baker and spice Exeptional breads " book using cornmeal which I assume is Polenta so i'll give this one a go and let you know what happens. Has any one else tried it ?

Cheers

Dave W (up for a challenge)

joem6112's picture
joem6112

I believe that corn meal is a finer grind than polenta which is coarser. Same stuff

xaipete's picture
xaipete

There are probably many grades of polenta from fine corn meal to coarse, polenta grade, corn meal. Thanks for pointing that out.

--Pamela

xaipete's picture
xaipete

Having thought more about this, Dave, I'm uncertain as to whether polenta flour is finely milled corn meal or finely ground whole corn (corn flour). Corn meal doesn't use the entire corn kernel; corn flour does. My guess is that it is finely milled corn meal.

--Pamela