While we can buy bags of stuff labeled “polenta” in the grocery store, the name polenta actually refers to the preparation of cooking coarsely ground grains (usually corn) into a porridge. The label “polenta” really just refers to very coarsely ground cornmeal. So it makes sense that most of the other recipes I found for polenta bread are essentially just cornbreads. But I wanted to try something a little different with my recipe. I’ve made cornbread before, and recently (thanks to my dad, the bread baker), I’ve become much more interested in breads made with yeast rather than those made with eggs and baking powder. So my polenta bread is baked in the style of a traditional loaf of Italian or semolina bread, only using polenta for lots of added texture.
Polenta is much more coarsely ground than cornmeal, so it makes for the perfect texture addition to a loaf of bread. Using only polenta will give you a bread that’s textured like any other cornbread, so in this recipe I used a mix of polenta and bread flour. The addition of polenta gives you a chewier bite of bread than a traditional loaf. It has a super crusty crust, helped along by the large grains of cornmeal. And since it goes into the bread raw, the polenta slowly cooks in the oven as the bread bakes. The final texture is light and moist, with a nice chew in the center and a beautiful crust.
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