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Tartine Blue Corn Polenta Bread

Flour.ish.en's picture
Flour.ish.en

Tartine Blue Corn Polenta Bread

The dough is the Tartine Basic Country Bread. The formula of the polenta bread can be found in Tartine Bread (page 93). I added pumpkin seeds, corn oil, fresh rosemary and blue corn polenta instead of the usual variety. It follows a similar approach as the porridge breads in Tartine Book #3 by using a polenta soaker. The soaker was too wet. Nothing that can't be fixed by dehydrating it in the oven until it becomes more like a paste. Another change I made to the Tartine method was an overnight cold retard in the fridge during bulk rise. The result is quite stunning. The beauty of the bread surprises me: the painterly brush strokes flowing through the crumb, contrasting nicely with the shatteringly light crust.

 

Comments

chouette22's picture
chouette22

I have never seen blue polenta meal! Did you find this locally or did you have to order it? I make the regular Tartine bread all the time, but have never made the polenta one (however we eat polenta quite often and love it). I will definitely give this a try. Thanks for the inspiration!

Flour.ish.en's picture
Flour.ish.en

I found this medium-grind blue cornmeal in the local supermarket. I can't remember which one it was. I saw it randomly and grabbed a bag. Stored in the freezer until now. All by happenstance, including this bread.

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

it has to taste even better than it looks!  Happy baking the blue way:-)

Flour.ish.en's picture
Flour.ish.en

the bar constantly. I have to work harder at it. Sometime I'm happy that I haven't screwed up over the multi-day build, mix, ferment and bake. Try indigo, that's my favorite color. 

nmygarden's picture
nmygarden

What a delight! Surprising color, and surely a taste treat. Thank you so much for sharing. Gotta try this!

Cathy

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Lovely

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

To get those streaks like that, I am guessing you didn’t try to spread out the polenta evenly throughout the dough. Am I right?

Flour.ish.en's picture
Flour.ish.en

intention other than the usual mixing and folding. The streaky appearance may be due to the texture of the polenta which resists mixing. It could be the result of the foldings when I shaped the dough, not unlike that of a cinnamon roll. It may also be the result of the color contrast what makes for a more showy appearance. I was surprised how it all turned out.

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

Wonder if I can find some around here...,