Day 90: Toasted Cornmeal Bread

I messed this bread up, but it still turned out okay. It's super dense as it usually is when I mess it up, but this one rose more than usual. To make this one you can either buy toasted cornmeal (which I didn't know they sold) or you can toast your own like I did. I just popped it in the 350 oven for about 20 minutes and it was perfect. This bread is supposed to be a light golden brown loaf with a great toasted flavor, but only some of those things came through. As I was making it, before I messed it up, it had such a great toasted aroma, but that didn't stick around long after baking it. You can still get some of the toasted flavoring, but it being such a dense brick of a loaf just kills any other enjoyment. This was the last corn bread, and it's kind of disappointing to end it on this note, but there's no going back! 

Day 89: Rudi's Stone-Ground Wheat Again

Back by popular demand, it's Rudi's Stone Ground Wheat! It is my mom's birthday today and I asked her what kind of bread she wanted. She doesn't really like whole-wheat breads, but this one obviously stood out. This bread was incredible back when I first baked it, and it's still just as amazing. It's loaded with bulgar, whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, wheat germ, molasses, honey, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds. There's a reason why my mom requested it. I don't know if the last loaf I baked got this big, but this loaf turned giant in the oven! Baking this was a good change of pace from all of the corn breads I've been making. I feel like it's been ages since I baked a whole-wheat bread. We're almost done with corn breads though! We have one left to go! 

Day 88: Steamed Corn Bread

This bread, like the other steamed breads I've made, come out as a super dense loaf. The recipe intended for me to make three smaller loaves and they were to be baked inside of coffee cans. I don't have any coffee cans, nor do I want to drink three cans worth of coffee! So I just made this one like I did the other steamed breads and put it in a pan, wrapped it in aluminum foil, placed that pan in another pan filled with water, and placed all of that in the hot oven. This one I steamed for three hours and it turned out perfectly. Apparently this is an old French recipe and they used to bake it in a cloth sack over a giant kettle of boiling water. That could be a lot of fun, but that sounds like a ton of work. Overall this bread is okay. It tastes just like molasses, so I can't complain too much, but I definitely couldn't eat a lot of this bread. 

Day 87: Taloa

These turned out amazing, but after a quick search, these are definitely not the traditional taloa that people eat. The recipe described them as Basque English muffins, which they totally are, but original Basque taloa are actually more like corn tortillas. This recipe uses yeast, water, cornmeal and white flour, while the traditional recipe is just water and cornflour (AKA corn starch here in the US). You let this one rise and roll out into round rolls and let them rise a bit before baking, while the originals you merely roll out and and throw on a hot surface to cook. Either way, these turned out great and are super delicious! I'm sure actual taloa is even better, and I'll definitely have to use a traditional recipe next time I want corn tortillas.

Day 86: Jalapeño Corn Bread

This corn bread is loaded with jalapeños, cheddar cheese, and onions. I thought it was going to be a standard corn bread with jalapeños just mixed into it, but this thing is on a whole other level. It was super easy to make, and was done baking in only half an hour. This might be might favorite corn bread so far, mostly because I love jalapeño things with cheese. Enchiladas are my jam, but this bread is a lot like a pot pie. It's got a great crispiness and chewiness to it. This bread was insane right out of the oven, but it's even delicious a bit later. We're almost through all of the corn breads! Slow and steady!

Day 85: Bacon(less) Spoon Bread

I'd never heard of spoon bread before, but that makes sense because I guess it's a southern thing. It's basically a custard or pudding, but made with a thick cornmeal paste and whipped egg whites. You can load them up with all sorts of flavors, but this one is packed with garlic and cheddar cheese. It turned out a lot like a quiche, only not as eggy. It's not very bready either, so it's somewhere in between. It does taste delicious though, so I can't complain about any of it. This, like most of these other corn breads, came together extremely fast, and were done baking in no time. If I did make another spoon bread, I would definitely change up what I put in it.

Day 84: Batter Corn Bread

This the first batter bread I've made with any yeast in it, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. You make it just like a regular batter bread, but let it rise for about an hour before you actually bake it. It was all pretty standard and it tastes delicious. It's got a hint of sweetness, but the cornmeal in and on the bread give it a unique texture. It does taste like a yeast bread, but it's more dense like a batter bread. I'm glad a bread like this was included in the book, because I don't think I would have ever thought of using yeast in a batter bread.