The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

cornmeal

loydb's picture
loydb

I'm continuing with the theme of 'corn' this week. This time, I'm starting with a 50/50 mix of Heartland Mill's organic blue and yellow corn. It took me a little time to get the mill dialed in for the coarseness I was after -- and I ended up sifting out roughly 50% of the meal, leaving me with true grits (and a bunch of corn flour for my next loaf of bread).

I had a cup or so of a mixture of onion, hot peppers and garlic left over from making tacos the other night, so I used it as the base for the polenta along with chicken stock and (at the very end) butter and shredded cheddar cheese. After 45 minutes in the oven (stirring every 10 minutes), I had a nice creamy polenta that I served with marinara sauce and sour cream. The rest of the polenta was poured into a baking tray and put in the fridge. I'll grill it up over the next few days as a side dish.

loydb's picture
loydb

Saturday was pickup day for Pioneer Valley's grain CSA. I am really impressed with the variety and quality of the grains and beans we got. I'll do a more extensive post on what we got later, but here's the first cooking effort. I used the same recipe from my blue corn cornbread entry, using Red Llamas Wheat and Mandan Bride Corn.

The Bride Corn kernels were so big that my mill had a hard time 'grabbing' them and pulling them into the stone. I ended up having to mill it twice -- the first time with the outer wheel very loose to get a coarse, rough grind, and then a second pass at a finer setting. It was a pain in the butt, but it worked.

The flavor of the final product was superb, I paired the bread with a berebere-rubbed pot roast with yams and carrots.

patman23's picture

Milling Cornmeal using a motorized Country Living Mill

July 29, 2012 - 9:38pm -- patman23

I have a motorized CL Mill and I'm trying to grind cornmeal with it.  I've replaced the auger to the corn and bean auger but I'm having a difficult time getting my grind right.  It seems as it it starts going fine but after a few min it sounds like a piece of corn gets hung up s0mewhere and it makes a loud whining noise.  I have to turn it off and open up the grind and then crank it ack down only for it to happen again in a ninute or two.  Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong here?  Ihm I'm using popcorn as my grain.

 

Thanks!

 

Heidela123's picture

Fresh cornmeal

May 22, 2012 - 5:48am -- Heidela123
Forums: 

Good morning, after much silliness on my part i finally am connected to this terrific forum!
I grew beautiful blue and multi colored corn last year, sadly I do not own a mill so I have been cooking it in stews. while lovely I really wanted to bake with it. My friend was gracious enough to grind a pound for me. In 30 seconds my corn has been transformed into a multi colored flour. It is flour vs meal, the texture is akin to a good freshly ground wheat, does not feel or taste gritty at all. The flavor is really nice!
I need to purchase a mill

dolcebaker's picture

bread with cornmeal- looking for suggestions, recipes

February 11, 2012 - 12:09pm -- dolcebaker

I will be a vendor at a Farmers Market location that will in the afternoon host a fish fry.  I had an idea of doing something in the shape of a fish.  Browsing around, I decide that my madeline pan would be a good basis for a small roll or something make with yeast that I can shape a tale onto, an msybe a dorsal fin.  I thought something that included cornmeal in the formula would be good.

Suggestions?   Alternative would be a dough I can use a cookie cutter on??

 

 

loydb's picture
loydb

Much like the planets, my need to refresh my 100% rye starter aligned with the arrival of Inside the Jewish Bakery. I've tried to do a 'traditional' yeasted rye in the past using commercial flour, but the results weren't particularly great, and neither my wife nor I like whole caraway seeds. When I read the recipe for the Old School Jewish Deli Rye, and saw the ground-up caraway, a little light went on, and I knew that was going to be my first bake from the book.

My home-cultured rye starter is kept at 100% hydration (and I'm pretty sure can be used as superglue in an emergency). It had been 11 days since it had been fed, so I started out with 1.5 ounces I turned into 4.5 overnight, then turned that into the 21 oz needed for the preferment with another step up and overnight fermentation.

I followed the recipe with the these alterations:

  • 0.5 teaspoon caramel coloring
  • 1.5 oz of the final flour was blue cornmeal left over from last night (see Blue Corn Cornbread)
  • The remaining flour was a 50/50 mix of hard red and hard white wheat. I sifted it to 85% extraction (#30 seive) then re-milled and re-sifted the bran, giving me a final extraction of 93% WW at a fine texture.
  • I didn't add any yeast. Instead, it got a 4.5 hour bulk fermentation and a 2.25 hour final proof
  • I made four miniloaves (plus a large roll)

The result is a crunchy exterior with a great caraway nose that enhances the subtle caraway taste. After chewing for a few seconds, the sour hits with the best flavor expression I've gotten out of this particular starter. This one is definitely going to go into my regular rotation.

Thanks for a great book guys!

 

Yumarama's picture

Salt Rising Bread - how does it work?

March 23, 2010 - 2:19pm -- Yumarama

A friend on the other side of the planet said he was making "Salt Risen Bread" and was wondering if I could help figure out why his didn't have enough oven spring. 

Well, first I had to point out I was unfamiliar with "salt risen" (or salt rising, as it seems to be referred to more in Google), the few recipes I checked first all seemed to be ancient : "use sweet milk", "mix in a quart of flour" and "add a lump of lard", the sort of thing you'd find in old farmer's recipes with estimated amounts and vague temp ranges. 

Matt H's picture

Great locally-grown and milled grains in Nor. Cal. from Ridgecut Gristmills

February 5, 2010 - 10:22am -- Matt H

I'm writing with a shameless plug for Ridgecut Gristmills. I don't have any connection, other than as a satisfied customer who hopes that this new business succeeds. The owner is very friendly, and I've been very impressed by her stone-milled flours and her willingness to custom-grind whatever grain I ask for.

Gunnersbury's picture

Cornmeal

September 10, 2009 - 2:13pm -- Gunnersbury

I am not very advanced: as my question will indicate. I have two types of cornmeal at home usually: the coarse ground, and the flour. Can I use either one when sprinkling on the peel?  And if the coarse is okay, then are grits okay?  Thank you. 

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