For the second day of our Mega Marathon, I have baked ‘Broa’ which is the Portuguese corn bread. It is a savory bread unlike the more famous Portuguese bread, ‘Massa Sovada’. Broa comes from the Gothic / Suebian word ‘brauth’ which means bread. Traditionally it was made with yellow cornmeal mixed with wheat or buckwheat flour making it a dense bread. I have used all purpose flour and so it is not as dense.
Country – Portugal
Makes an 8″ bread
Recipe adapted from here
WHAT WE NEED
Yellow cornmeal 1/2 cup
Hot water 6 tbsp
Warm milk 1/4 cup
All purpose flour 1 1/4 cup
Instant yeast 1 tsp
Olive oil 2 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Honey 1 tbsp
WHAT TO DO
- In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal and hot water
- Add the milk and set it aside till it becomes lukewarm
- Then add all the other ingredients – all purpose flour, yeast, olive oil, honey and salt
- Mix well and knead to form a smooth and slightly sticky dough
- Transfer it to a well greased bowl and turn it around so that all sides of the dough are greased with the oil
- Cover and set aside till it doubles in volume, around 1 hour
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or two
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper
- Form a ball with the dough and transfer it to the baking tray
- Set aside for 30-40 minutes till it is very puffy
- Preheat the oven to 230C
- Sprinkle cornmeal liberally over the dough and make 3-4 cuts on the dough around 1/4″ deep
- Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 200C and bake for 15 minutes or till the top is a nice golden brown
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting it into slices
- Enjoy it with a soup of your choice!
This is my post for the Mega Marathon for the letter ‘B’
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75
Bread Therapy 
Always love bakes with Cornmeal.. Broa looks fantastic!!
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Thank you!
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Corn bread, never heard of, thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. Want to try!
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Thank you. Do try it.
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I am in love with your bread. To tell you the truth I love breads immensely, and this one looks very rustic..love everything about it Sowmya. Fantastic.
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Thank you so much Vaishali
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Sowmya now that is a stunning looking bread!..so wonderfully baked. You are seriously making drool with your breads..can’t wait to read all of your bakes!
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Thank you Valli!
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Very interesting bread with cornmeal Sowmya. Totally new bread for me. Looks fluffy inside and crusty outside. Great pick for letter B.
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Thanks a lot Pavani
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Same pinch!! Awesome bread, right, Sowmya. ? We loved it too.
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Amazing one! A recipe for keeps
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That is a very new recipe for me. I have had a major disaster with corn bread and hence I am scared to bake anything with corn meal. This looks like a bread I can try to get over my fear of corn bread.
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Do try it Sandhya. It is a lovely bread with soup
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What a beautiful bread Sowmya – u r indeed a bread therapist..it looks gorgeeous
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Thanks Pradnya. You made my day 🙂
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The crumb looks perfect on this loaf. Simple and quick recipe.
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Thank you
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such rustic artisan bread.. very nice.
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Thank you so much
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Have baked twice this broa and we loved it to the core. Prefectly baked bread. Well done.
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Thanks a lot
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wow, a very different bread with cornmeal. Loved it
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Thank you Ruchi
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Your cornmeal bread turned out superb. It looks very rustic and has got that wonderful crust.
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Thanks Sapana
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