Triple Corn Bread - November 8, 2010

A new obsession has seized me and converted me into a bread-making machine.  When the bread basket contains only the last few slices, I panic and start for the kitchen.  The simple, unfailing recipe that I have been following like an automaton is versatile to my whims and the dictates of (expiring) leftover items in the refrigerator, whose variations include:  leftover rice, okara (the leftover soy beans and skins after making soy milk), fermented rice wine, baked sweet potato, leftover beans.  I read what I have written, and I feel I need to add a line of explanation:  I almost never have much leftovers - after all, I am au gourmand, instead of an Epicurean so not only I treasure food, but I also eat a lot of the treasured food - because the "leftovers" are always made over into something "new." 

After I have embarked upon the grand journey into bread-making, I have even more respect for the artistry and mastery of great bakers:  Seriously, taming a live beast - the yeast - is not much easier than taming a lion even in a controlled environment of my own kitchen. 
A potent corn recipe, not for the faint-hearted, as it is triple doses of corns in the forms of (1) creamed, (2) corn flour and (3) corn kernels.  This also makes a terrific bread pudding...anyone?


Ingredients {1 Big Loaf Pan - Approximately 5 x 9}

• Corn kernels (fresh or frozen) - 1 cup
• Amaranth flour (or wheat flour) - 1 cup
• Brown rice flour - 1 cup
• Tapioca flour - 1/2 cup
• Xanthan gum (if you don't have it, you don't have it) - 1 tablespoon
• Chia seeds, flax seeds and sesame seeds (other seeds as you see fit; or almond powder) - 1 tablespoon each
• Dry yeast - 1 1/2 tablespoons
• Baking powder (there is no need if you use regular wheat flour) - 1 1/2 teaspoons
• Eggs - 2
• Whole milk (I insist) - 1 cup, warmed to 110F
• Salt - 1 teaspoon
• Honey - 4 tablespoons 
• Coconut butter - 4 tablespoons

Preparation:

1. Put all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, seeds - except yeast) into a bowl. Mix.
2. Put 1/2 of the corn kernels and milk into a blender until roughly smooth.
3. Heat the corn-milk mix to 110F. 
4. Beat the eggs and the coconut butter lightly.
5. Add 1/2 the warm corn-milk mixture into the egg-butter mixture.
6. Whisk in the yeast into the corn-milk-egg-butter mixture.
7. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture into the liquid and knead until fully incorporated. Scrape off the flour on the sides.
8. Add the remaining 1/2 of the flour gradually (2-3 times), each time knead until fully incorporated. If not enough liquid, add some from the corn-milk mixture.
9. Knead for 3-4 minutes.
10. Let it rise for 40 minutes.
11. While you wait, prepare the loaf pan: Cut baking sheets to the right size (then you do not have to butter up the pan) and put it into the pan.
12. Once the dough has risen, put the sticky mess into the pan.
13. Let it rise again: You can place the loaf pan on the oven top and use the heat from the oven as it pre-heats. I will have a kettle boiling right next to it to get the steam going at the same time.
14. Bake for 35 minutes at 390-400F.
15. Stick a skewer in; nothing sticks to it, it is done!
16. Smell it, ogle it, and admire it. You can slice it up and butter it up, and I mean, butter it up, for breakfast, if not fresh out of the oven at the kitchen counter.