Pepper Cornmeal Mini-Loaves

I got this recipe from '200 Fast and Easy Artisan Breads;' I was looking for something with cornmeal, and this one looked good.

• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp yeast
• 3/4 Tbsp salt
• 1 Tbsp pepper
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

I replaced the 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour with multi-grain flour, and used only 1/4 tspn yeast so that I could let it develop overnight. When I smelled the peppery dough, I felt impelled to add a pinch each of dried oregano and basil.

The recipe says to beat the egg, and add the water to it... mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add the water + egg and mix with 40 strokes. I let it sit overnight for 8 hours, rolled it into a 12" cylinder, cut it into 6 pieces, and put the pieces into tins that I had lying around (the book recommends soup cans). I lined the tins with some oil, then sprinkled with cornmeal. Baked in a 425F oven for about 25 minutes, with a final internal temperature of 200F.

The little loaves came out a nice blondish yellow. The tins worked well at forcing the dough to rise vertically... the particular tins seem to be lined with a non-stick layer that made it easy to jerk the little loaves out.

The result is tasty... there's a nice hint of pepper... it has that cornmeal texture, but because there's only 1 cup of cornmeal (and 2.5 other flours) it's not cornbread. These would go well with soup or chili, or simply with some butter.

AFTER: I took some of the loaves to work. After getting feedback from co-workers, and tasting it again with some objectivity, I realized that it's not very good. It is very much a cornbread, unlike what I wrote before, and is only good hot and fresh. Anyhow, if it were to be made again, it needs more moisture... either some oil or more egg.