Making a perfect loaf of bread takes tweaking and persistence. Take the loaf of Broa, a Portugese corn bread, I recently made. Though it had a rustic feel, I wanted a better looking bread, as well as better expansion in the crumb. So I took out my notebook from The French Culinary Institute, my training ground from years ago, and found a Broa formula.
Though similar to the recent formula I had used from Azelia's Kitchen, there were difference in hydration, as well as a pre-gelatinization of the corn meal, kind of like polenta. The biggest difference was my school's had a higher ratio of wheat over rye in the final dough, and it wasn't leavened with sourdough.
600g maize
100g wheat
300g rye
700g water
20g salt
20g fresh yeast
Here is my adaption of FCI's straight dough version, with a rye levain.
Corn Soaker
100% Coarse corn
200% Water
6% salt
12% Olive oil
Final dough:
83% Wheat, or bread flour
17% rye (Whole grain or medium)
30% Rye levain
106% Corn Soaker
2% Yeast (Optional, but useful)
You need a lot of rye in your bannetons for this dough. In addition, it's tacky and difficult to shape. I left it seam side down for a more volcanic look.
