If you keep at something long enough, then finally reach a satisfactory result, it’s worth the trial and error. Such is the case with my making Broa de Milho, a Portugese bread that has got me going back at the formula repeatedly, finding many similarities from each bake. The first attempts gave dense brick loaves,which a Portugese blogger Paulo Sebastiao explained to me is typical, as it can be a dense loaf. Still, it’s a loaf I like even with its single proof that had me struggling. As did  pouring boiling hot water over the corn to pre-gelatinize.

I succumbed to the rule of shaping and pop into the oven. Low and behold, out came a crumb I was happy with. Though broa isn’t a hole ridden loaf of a sourdough, it’s a soft crumb, with a decidedly sweet corn taste. It also has hints of rye. More, the wheat flour acts as a stabilizer. Yes, I’d considered fully fermenting this dough with just natural yeast, but that’s another time coming. So this does have commercial yeast, as well as a low percent of natural yeast or sourdough.