CORN PORRIDGE AND ROSEMARY SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Porridge
• Mill your dried corn on the coarsest setting of your countertop mill, and then re-mill the corn on the finest setting, where the stones are lightly knocking.
• Boil water and mix 130-150g of it into the corn flour. Yellow dent corn needs the higher end of that range, and niles red flint corn the lower end. (I didn't get a chance to try bloodly butcher corn.)
• Cover and set aside for about an hour or until the temperature is under 120F.
• Mixing the Dough
• In a medium bowl, add all of the ingredients except the rosemary. Remember to hold back some of the water if you're using volume measurements or a different type of corn porridge (e.g. pureed cooked corn).
• Mix until the ingredients are incorporated. The dough will be sticky and somewhat wet, but not a soupy batter. I like to leave some small chunks of unincorporated porridge for flavor impact.
• Bulk Fermentation
• Cover the dough and let it bulk ferment for 5-6 hours (that was my time frame in a 78F summer kitchen). During the first couple of hours, perform 3-4 rounds of gluten development with a 30-minute rest in between each round. Don't despair if the dough is quite sticky at first, it will become more manageable as time passes.
• Stop the bulk fermentation when the dough has expanded by about 75% and is bubbly on the surface. If your bowl is transparent, you will also see aeration through the sides of the bowl.
• Adding Rosemary and Pre-Shaping
• Flour your counter top and scrape the dough out onto it.
• Stretch the dough into a large rectangle, and alternate sprinkling rosemary on your dough and folding the dough over the rosemary. (For clarification, see the photo collage that precedes this recipe.)
• When you have a thick square of dough, round it into a boule, cover it, and let it rest for 20-30 minutes.
• Shaping and Final Proof
• Flour the top of the dough, flip it over and shape the dough into a boule, batard, or oblong loaf, depending on your baking vessel.
• Place the dough seam-side up in a floured proofing basket and cover.
• Let the dough sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before refrigerating it overnight. You can also proof the dough at room temperature only for 1-3 hours, depending on your kitchen temps. The goal is for the dough to expand a bit in size. (See the photo gallery below for before and after photos of the final proof.)
• Baking
• Thirty minutes before the final proof is complete, preheat your oven to 500F with your baking vessel inside.
• When the preheat is complete, remove your proofing basket from the refrigerator, flip the dough onto a piece of parchment paper, score it, and load it into the baking vessel.
• If using a clay baker, bake the bread:
• 20 minutes covered at 500F
• 10 minutes covered at 450F
• 5-10 minutes uncovered at 450F
• If using a cast iron vessel, add a sheet of foil under the parchment and bake the bread:
• 20 minutes covered at 500F, then add a baking sheet under the vessel
• 10 minutes covered at 450F
• 5-10 minutes uncovered at 450F
• The foil layer and baking sheet should prevent the base of the bread from overcooking.