"Richard Crowley" > wrote in message
...
> "Vox Humana" wrote ...
> > Yeast-raised
> > breads are not cake-like because they require the tough
> > network of gluten to contain the CO2 produced by the
> > yeast.
>
> I apologize that I escaped higher-education studying only
> physics (to the exclusion of both inorganic and organic
> chemistry :-( But it sounds like you are saying that because
> corn doesn't have the same properties as wheat (gluten,
> etc.) you can't make the same kind of product with corn
> meal as you do with wheat flour?
>
> I don't suppose that "Wonder Bread" actually qualifies
> as "bread"? :-) As a child, my parents explained that
> the name is short for "It's a Wonder they can call it Bread"
>
> Thank you for the recipe. Can you speculate how it would
> perform with whole-grain flour? And/or with a different
> proportion of wheat flour vs. corn meal?

You can not make yeast-raised bread from 100% cornmeal. Cornmeal has no
gluten and will not rise from fermentation. You would end up with a brick.

Wonder Bread is bread. It may not be your idea of good food, but it is a
yeast raised bread by any measure.

I would not use more than 50% whole wheat flour. Whole wheat flour has less
gluten than white flour. Although people will disagree, I find that bread
made with 100% whole wheat flour is heavy, dense, brick-like, and has an
unpleasant texture. In addition, the sharp particles of the wheat hull in
WW flour disrupts the gluten network, reducing the effectiveness of the
already reduced gluten. I suspect that cornmeal would do the same. I would
start using one cup of WW flour OR oats OR corn meal. If that works,
increase the amount to two cups. At some point you find the ratio that you
like. If the bread becomes too heavy, you can try adding some wheat gluten
which can usually be found in the baking isle of the supermarket or online.