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
Always love bakes with Cornmeal.. Broa looks fantastic!!
Thank you!
Corn bread, never heard of, thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. Want to try!
Thank you. Do try it.
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.
Thank you so much Vaishali
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!
Thank you Valli!
Very interesting bread with cornmeal Sowmya. Totally new bread for me. Looks fluffy inside and crusty outside. Great pick for letter B.
Thanks a lot Pavani
Same pinch!! Awesome bread, right, Sowmya. ? We loved it too.
Amazing one! A recipe for keeps
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.
Do try it Sandhya. It is a lovely bread with soup
What a beautiful bread Sowmya – u r indeed a bread therapist..it looks gorgeeous
Thanks Pradnya. You made my day 🙂
The crumb looks perfect on this loaf. Simple and quick recipe.
Thank you
such rustic artisan bread.. very nice.
Thank you so much
Have baked twice this broa and we loved it to the core. Prefectly baked bread. Well done.
Thanks a lot
wow, a very different bread with cornmeal. Loved it
Thank you Ruchi
Your cornmeal bread turned out superb. It looks very rustic and has got that wonderful crust.
Thanks Sapana