I’m in the process of trying to lose some weight – reading diet books, including those on (horrors-of-horrors)  low-carb diets.  Then came the Februrary issue of Gourmet, and any hope of that happening went right out of the window.

To add to the futility of me ever giving up bread, along comes the lovely Sandy of At The Baker’s Bench to suggest a re-coneving of our cookie baking group to tackle the beautiful roll recipes from this month. So out went the South Beach, and hellooooo yeast.

The first recipe I chose was the Crusty Cornstalk Rolls – a baguette like loaf that’s cut before baking to make little rolls that can be torn from the main stalk.  It includes cornmeal in the dough, giving it a slightly denser texture and sweeter taste.

I had a little difficulty with the cutting process – the rolls kept adhering back together. But in the end, they did tear off easily enough, and were delicious slathered in butter and dipped in the batch of Mark Bittman’s Garlicy Beef Daube.

Crusty Cornstalk Rolls

adapted from February issue of Gourmet

ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast (from a 1/4-ounce package)
1 1/4 cups warm water (105–115°F), divided
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoon stone-ground yellow cornmeal, divided

equipment:
spray bottle with water, parchment paper, baking stone or baking sheets

to do:
1. Stir together yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and sugar in a measuring cup and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

2. Mix flour, salt, 1/2 cup cornmeal in a large bowl. Pour in yeast mixture and remaining cup warm water and mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a soft dough forms.

3. Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and knead, dusting surface and your hands with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is elastic and smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. Form dough into a ball.

4. Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

5. Punch down dough (do not knead) and fold into thirds like a letter (dough will be soft), then gently roll into a 12-inch-long log with lightly floured hands. It may be easier at this point to divide the dough into two halves for baking.

6. Sprinkle a large baking sheet evenly with remaining 2 tablespoon cornmeal and fit single or double logs of dough onto the sheet to coat the bottom with cornmeal. Alternating sides, make 3-inch-long diagonal cuts, about 1 1/2 inches apart, into sides of log using kitchen shears (ends of cuts should not touch; maintain a center “stalk”). Gently pull apart cuts to stretch dough, forming rolls that are separate (about 1 1/2 inches apart) but connected to center stalk. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

7. Preheat oven to 425F with rack in middle and baking stone. Spray rolls with water, then bake, spraying into oven 3 times in first 5 minutes of baking to help form a crust, until golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer rolls to a rack and cool at least 20 minutes.

NOTE: Rolls are best warm and fresh, but can be frozen if wrapped well.

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Check out the other We Bake Gourmet group members:

Kelly of Sass & Veracity

Judy of No Fear Entertaining

Courtney of Coco Cooks

Sandy of At The Baker’s Bench

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes