If you want to bake the simplest bread, then it is Anadama bread. It consists of a few ingredients blended together to form a good sandwich bread. One important component that you need is a soaker made of cornmeal. You have to soak cornmeal in water, the day before you want to bake the bread. Most of the time I would forget to soak anything the night before, like the other day I had to wake up around 1 clock in the night to soak urad dal and rice for dosa/rice lentil crepe (a savior during the breakfast, dinner times). From this episode you can see that how cautious I am in soaking my grains. Because I would forget the soak the corn meal, making of this bread was delayed for a long time.
Finally the day before yesterday I was able to make the soaker, and made the bread the next day. Anadama bread is traditional bread from New England .It is mostly served as warm breakfast toast. There is a funny story behind the name of this bread. It goes like this” "A fisherman, angry with his wife, Anna who is not interested in much cooking, served him nothing but cornmeal and molasses porridge every evening. One day, he added flour and yeast to porridge and baked the mixture as bread, while cursing, "Anna, damn her."The result was tasty, sweet bread. If you want read more about this bread from here. And here.
I stopped buying bread from stores and have resorted to baking it, this way we were able to taste all kinds of breads. Further when warm bread comes out of oven, satisfaction which I get is not easy to put in words. Because of this, my poor hubby has to taste all kinds of bread, whether likes or not. He is good taste tester though and gives frank opinion. I used the recipe from the book The bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart I like his book, it is straight forward one, no confusion, and easy to follow. I want to taste the original bread, and hence strictly followed the recipe. Result was chewy, tasty, dense bread. Mine was not dark as it was supposed to be, may be the molasses that I used is not giving the much color. If you like dense bread give it a try to this recipe.
What you need
For Soaker
Coarse cornmeal /polenta: ⅔ cup
Water: ⅔ cup at room temperature
For Dough
Unbleached bread flour: 3 cups ( I used King Arthur flour)
Salt: 1 ¼ teaspoons
Active dry yeast: 1 ½ teaspoons
Molasses: 4 tablespoons
Water: 1 ½ cup luke warm ( 90 0 F to 100 0 F)
Shortening: 1 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon at room temperature.
Corn meal for dusting ( optional)
How I made
For soaker. Day before making the bread, in a small bowl mix the cornmeal and water Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature overnight to initiate enzyme action.
On the day of bread baking : for dough
In a bowl of an electric stand mixer, stir together the 1 ½ cups of the flour, the yeast, soaker and water. Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and ferment for 1 hour, or until the sponge begins to double.
Add remaining 2 ½ cups of flour, the salt, molasses and shortening and stir or mix on low speed with paddle attachment until the ingredients form a ball. Add water if necessary to make soft, slightly sticky mass.
Change to dough hook and knead the dough for about 6 to 8 minutes in the electric mixer and then knead using hand for another 3 minutes to form a firm, supple and pliable non sticky dough. The dough should pass the window pane test and register 77 to 81 F. If you are kneading by hand it takes about 15 minutes of kneading.
Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Ferment at room temperature it took about 1 hour and 45 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size.
Remove the dough from the bowl into slightly floured area and degas it and Shape the dough into loaf, and place them into lightly oiled loaf pan. Mist the top of the loaf with spray oil and loosely cover the tops with plastic wrap. Proof the dough at room temperature for 70 minutes, or until the loaf crest fully above the tops of the pans. (If you want to hold back any of loaf, place them in the refrigerator without proofing, where they will hold, or retard, for up to 2 days. Remove them from the refrigerator about 4 hours before baking and proof them at room temperature or until ready).
Pre heat the oven to 350F with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Place the pans on a sheet pan and remove the plastic wrap. Mist the tops with spray of water and dust with corn meal
Place the sheet pan in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Rotate the sheet pan for even baking and continue to bake for another 20 minutes or until the loaf are golden brown, including along the sides and bottom and register at least 185 F to 190 F in the center and make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.
when the loaf is finished baking, remove them immediately from the pan and cool on rack for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours, before slicing and serving.
This bread is going to This week's Yeast spotting by Susan of Wild Yeast.
Also to Dish name starts with A by Akila of Learning to cook
Preparation time: soaker: over night, Dough: 16 minutes, First rise: 1 hour 45 minutes ; Second rise: 70 minutes
Yield: 1 loaf
Verdict: Tasty
Will you make it again: Yes I will
Swathi
This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
Veganosaurus says
Haha I've never heard that "Anna damn her" story before. Good one. 😀
I so agree with you about the satisfying feeling of eating fresh, home baked bread, straight out of the oven. I love the way my house smells when there's bread baking. 🙂
Veganosaurus says
Haha I've never heard that "Anna damn her" story before. Good one. 😀
I so agree with you about the satisfaction of eating warm home baked bread straight out of the oven! I love the way my entire house smells when there's bread baking in the oven. 🙂
akilandeswari says
Hi,
That was a lovely recipe.
Thanks for sending to my event dear...
http://akilaskitchen.blogspot.com
Regards,
Akila
mimicooks says
Great pictures. Your bread looks perfect!
Reeni says
What a beautiful loaf of bread! I love anadama bread - delicious!
Sarah Naveen says
this is new to me kto..looks so delicious.!!! gotta try once..
Anncoo says
Nice bread and perfectly baked.
Please visit my new site and join a little giveaway.
vineetha says
Perfectly baked bred..U r a master chef !!
Pari says
Love ur breads dear and this one looks perfectly baked. Is there any means to replace the molasses?
FOODELICIOUS
Ellie (Almost Bourdain) says
Wonderful recipe! Thanks for sharing!
Joanne says
I've heard such good things about this bread and I love the story behind it! Looks perfect.
Nostalgia says
Looks nicely risen, soft and yum.. thanks for a nice variant.
Suman Singh says
WOW Swati, that came out so perfect..I love your bread recipes..going to give this a try very soon..thanks for sharing!
Faith says
My mom used to make this bread when I was a kid...I always loved it! I actually think yours looks even better! 🙂
shahana says
Swathi,So perfectly baked cake.I m bookmarking this.Will try this after Ramadhan n let u know.Thanksfor sharing!
Sushma Mallya says
interesting name, you do it so perfectly & its so soft and yum as well
Usha says
Bread looks awesome and just perfect!
fancythatfancythis.com says
That is the most perfect and delicious loaf of bread I have ever seen...if only you were a bit closer. I'd have to come and try some!
Hamaree Rasoi says
How are you baking expert ;-)? u r so good at baking breads....Looks tempting and absolutely perfectDeepaHamaree Rasoi
Priya says
Great looking and prefectly baked bread...awesome work Swathi..
sanjeeta kk says
Beautiful texture and a perfect bread. Thanks for sharing.
Rachana says
The bread looks perfect!
G.Pavani says
looks soft n delicious bread...i will a try
MyKitchenInHalfCups says
Lovely bread!
Thanks so much for stopping by my place.
Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says
That does sound wonderful and easy !!!
Sanyukta Gour(Bayes) says
love baking homemade bread always...this looks so eprfectly bread,soft n yum
kitchen queen says
perfectly baked bread very delicious.
Sayantani says
cant tell you how eagerly I also want to bake my bread...but yet to find some good yeast. your bread looks real temptin. I love this recipe and would love to have a piece of it with some butter.
MaryMoh says
Perfect loaf of bread. Homemade bread is always the best......smells great and tastes great...mmm. Thanks very much for sharing. MaryMoh at http://www.keeplearningkeepsmiling.com
aipi says
Homemade bread is my favorite. Yours looks so good; I can almost smell the freshness. Looking forward to tasting this:)
Nitha says
Perfect bread. .
Vrinda says
Perfect bread as usual...
PALATABLE says
Perfect and sounds interesting..never tried baking bread this way that requires soaking, the end result is really beautiful and delicious...
http://treatntrick.blogspot.com
Viki's Kitchen says
Perfect bread dear. Funny story behind the name:) Bookmarking this.
Gulmohar says
adipoli..you have a nice collection of bread recipes Swathi...
Kamalika says
Dear swati, the bread looks so perfect..and sounds very easy too...I bought yeast and other ingredients to give a try to make bread..but still now i am not able to prepare it....now I have to make it...
Satya says
wow its an awesome recipe...bread looks so soft n perfect...thanks for sharing
Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com
Sreelekha Sumesh says
Kidilan bread.Looks so yummy.
RV says
Isn't it bread baking therapeutic. This is a wonderful loaf and I have been thinking of making it for quite some time now. Might be this is my next bread.