Anadama Bread

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 package dry yeast
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour

Directions

1. Add the cornmeal to a large bowl. Bring the 2 cups of water to a boil, then pour it into the cornmeal while stirring the whole time so lumps do not form. Set the mixture aside for 30 minutes.
2. Stir in the molasses, salt and butter until everything is combined. There should be enough heat left in the cornmeal mixture to melt butter that started at room temperature.
3. In a small bowl, add 1/2 cup warm water, a bit warmer than body temperature. Scatter the yeast over the surface and leave it alone for a few minutes. Stir gently, then let it stand for another 5 minutes.
4. Pour the yeast mixture into the cornmeal bowl and stir to bring it all together. Add the bread flour a cup at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough will be loose, sticky and not especially elegant, which is exactly where you are headed.
5. Coat a couple of 5x9 loaf pans with butter. Spoon the dough into the pans as neatly as you can manage; it will be sticky. Cover the pans with a tea towel and leave the dough to rise for several hours, until it has doubled in size.
6. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the loaves for 45-50 minutes, until a skewer or the blade of a knife comes away clean. After a few minutes of cooling in the pans, turn the loaves onto racks to finish cooling.