Broa de Avintes (Porto-Style Corn and Rye Bread)

I already have my broa de milho on the site, the everyday cornbread I grew up eating, but broa de Avintes is its denser, more serious cousin from just south of Porto, across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia. Where my family’s broa is light enough to eat warm with butter, broa de Avintes is a heavier, dark, almost black-crusted loaf built from corn, rye, and wheat flour, meant to last a household most of the week.

This is bread as it was made before anyone worried about proofing times or oven spring, dense, moist, faintly sweet from the corn, with a tang from the rye that reminds me a little of a good sourdough. It is traditionally the bread you tear apart to eat with Caldo Verde (recipe on the site) or to mop up the last of a Bacalhau com Broa (recipe on the site) pan, since the crumb is sturdy enough to hold up to a wet plate without falling apart.

Fair warning, this dough is sticky, closer to a thick batter than the smooth, springy dough you get from all-purpose flour, and that is exactly right. Do not fight it by adding more flour. My husband thought I had ruined the recipe the first time he watched me work with it, right up until it came out of the oven with that deep, cracked crust, and then he understood.

Broa de Avintes Recipe

Prep time: 30 minutes (plus 2 hours rising) · Cook time: 50 minutes · Total: about 3 hours 20 minutes · Servings: 1 loaf (12 slices) · Calories: ~165 per serving

Ingredients

• 2 cups fine cornmeal (not coarse polenta), plus extra for dusting
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups rye flour
• 1 1/2 cups bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

1. In a large heatproof bowl, pour the boiling water over the cornmeal and stir well to form a thick porridge. Let it cool to lukewarm, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the 3/4 cup lukewarm water and let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
3. Once the cornmeal mixture has cooled, stir in the yeast mixture, rye flour, bread flour, and salt. Mix with a sturdy spoon or your hands until you have a thick, sticky, cohesive mass; it will not look like a typical bread dough.
4. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let rise in a warm spot for about 1 1/2 hours, until visibly puffed.
5. Turn the dough out onto a heavily floured surface. With floured hands, shape it into a round loaf, it will be sticky, use plenty of flour on your hands rather than adding it to the dough.
6. Transfer the loaf to a parchment-lined baking sheet or a floured banneton, dust the top with cornmeal, cover loosely, and let rise for another 30-40 minutes.
7. Preheat the oven to 450°F with a baking sheet or stone inside. Place a shallow pan of water on the oven floor or lower rack for steam.
8. Bake the loaf for 15 minutes at 450°F, then reduce the heat to 375°F and continue baking for another 30-35 minutes, until deeply browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
9. Cool completely on a rack, at least 2 hours, before slicing; cutting it warm makes it gummy and the crumb will not set properly.

Recipe Notes

• Fine or medium-grind cornmeal works best; very coarse polenta-style cornmeal will not hydrate properly and leaves a gritty loaf.
• The dough really is meant to be sticky and unshapeable in the traditional sense, resist the urge to add more flour beyond what is needed to handle it.
• Do not skip the cooling time, broa needs to fully set before slicing, unlike most breads that are best warm.
• This loaf freezes well sliced; toast slices straight from frozen for the best texture.