Cornmeal Yeast Bread

I found this recipe for Cornmeal Yeast Bread while flipping through some of my older cookbooks looking for some lower-fat, lower-calorie cooking ideas. The moment I spotted this particular recipe, I immediately put it on my short list for recipes I wanted to make as soon as possible.

As you probably already know, I’m a bread baking fool and I’m always looking for new and exciting ways to come up with the perfect ‘slice’ of heaven. This recipe is close to that and it’s basically guilt free (if you’re worried about your sugar intake), plus I upped the fiber quota by adding in some whole wheat flour.

The original recipe for this bread came from a 1997 “Southern Living Low-Fat, Low-Calorie Recipes” cookbook that I found at our local Goodwill store several months ago.  I did make a few changes to the original recipe and I’ll denote those changes with asterisks so you can either make it the way it was in the original cookbook, or you can try it my way if you’re feeling adventurous. I suggest you step out of the box and be a little adventurous. Heck it’s only bread so what have you got to lose (except the granulated sugar and a few more calories)?

Winner, winner yeast bread with dinner!

CORNMEAL YEAST BREAD          {PRINT THIS RECIPE}

2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)3/4 cup non-fat evaporated milk
1/3 cup sugar
*1/4 cup Nectresse (100% natural sweetener) or Stevia*
1/3 cup reduced-calorie margarine
*1/3 cup low-fat butter (such as Land-O-Lakes)*
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided
*1 cup whole wheat flour*
*2 to 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 egg
olive oil cooking spray

-In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and let stand for 5 minutes.
-Meanwhile in a small saucepan over low heat, heat the evaporated milk, butter, sugar substitute and salt until the butter is melted. Allow to cool to 105-115 degrees.
-In a large bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, cornmeal and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour. Whisk to combine.
-Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the warm evaporated milk mixture, the yeast and the egg.
-Add in another 1 cup of all purpose flour and, using the dough hook on the stand mixer (or some elbow grease in a bowl with and your hands) knead the dough until it’s smooth and elastic, (approximately 10 minutes). *If you’re making this bread on a humid day, you may need to add some additional flour at this point if the dough is too sticky. The dough should not be sticking to your hands at this point so use that as your guide.
-Spray the inside of a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough ball inside.
-Spray the top of the dough with another quick spray and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
-Let the dough rise in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.
-Punch the dough down and divide it into two equal portions. *Note – When I make this bread again, I will not be following this step and will make one loaf instead of the suggested two that the recipe calls for.  Of course this will not effect the taste, it will just make for one larger, nicer shaped loaf.
It’s your call at this point if you’d like to make two smaller loaves or one large one.*
-Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a roughly shaped rectangle. I usually just eyeball the size and am never too concerned with the actual shape of the rectangle (as you’ll see). The recipe calls for 14×7 but mine is hardly that size (I’m really bad about following directions). LOL. I’m a bad girl.
-Place the roll seam size down into a prepared loaf pan that has been sprayed with olive oil.
-Allow the loaf/loaves to rise again in a warm, draft free place until doubled (approximately 1 hour).
-Bake the bread at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until the loaves sound hallow when tapped.
-Remove from the pans immediately and cool on wire racks until you’re ready to slice and serve.