A typical Portuguese breakfast is, like many European breakfasts, a simple affair: coffee, a bread or roll, smeared with jam, maybe accompanied by some cheese or ham. It’s admittedly my favorite part of hopping across the pond, and my friends and I love to ooh and ahh over the simplist of breakfasts and wonder why we don’t repeat the easy spread at home. I still wonder. Anyway, after the somewhat heartier breakfasts of late, I was perfectly happy just having some bread and so I opted to try my hand at this Broa (Portuguese Corn Bread).
Despite my love, I rarely make it from scratch, so far having some strange aversion to making anything with yeast. Irrational position, I agree, but after making the waffles, I started to come around to the idea that it was easier to make that I had previously given yeast bread credit for being.
Broa is rustic in style, and is commonly eaten alongside some pretty traditional soups and stews, which are on the menu for later this week, so I figured I’d kick things off this week with that in mind. It’s heavy, moist, and has a really thick, crunchy crust, made possible by “steaming” the loaf while it bakes at a really high temperature. This recipe was adapted from King Arthur Flour, but the technique came more from The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. Next time I think I’ll take the tip to use whole wheat flour or blue cornmeal, just for variety. This is definitely not your light and airy bread, but more like a brick.
I say that lovingly in the best way possible. One tasty, delicious, hearty, crusty brick. Lathered in some salted butter, I could not help myself. I bet you won’t be able to either.
Broa (Portuguese corn bread) is a hearty, cornmeal-based, slightly sweet bread with a delightfully crusty exterior.Broa
Ingredients
Directions
