Wild Yeast

Corn has a bad reputation lately. As a major component of America’s industrial food system, corn represents cropland abuse, genetic modification, cattle sickened on a grain diet, children sickened on a corn-fed-beef-burger and high-fructose-corn-syrup diet, a wacky government subsidy system. All too true.

But of course the blame for these ills lies with the humans that produce and consume big-business corn (and that would be most of us, by the way; if you ever eat prepared food, chances are there’s corn in there somewhere). Blaming corn is like blaming water for acid rain.

As a grain and a vegetable in and of itself, unrefined, unengineered, and responsibly grown, corn is pretty upstanding. Sure, you’d be in trouble if it were all you ate. But it’s a decent source of fiber, B vitamins, and vitamin C. Native American cultures were and are sustained by it. My childhood summers would not have been the same without it. Neither would chili and guacamole.

So, in defense and celebration of this innocent, nutritious, and tasty food that is the theme of this month’s BreadBakingDay (hosted by Heather and Zorra), I wanted to bake something that not only comprised corn but announced loudly, I’m corn. You got a problem with that? Bite me!

Would you put a basket of golden corn ears on your breakfast table, warm and ready for a drizzle of honey? (Many thanks to my friend Elra for this jar of wonderful local wildflower honey.)

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A blowout might be a good thing if you’re the birthday girl or the winning team, but when it comes to bread, usually not. In the scheme of things, a bread blowout may be a minor annoyance compared to, say, blowing out your front left tire on the freeway, but even so, I’d prefer not to have anything resembling the Goodyear Blimp on my dinner table.

My friend and baker extraordinaire Natashya (Living in the Kitchen With Puppies) asked me for help understanding why her loaves (of which the above is not one; I take full credit for that one) had exploded open like Aliens. I get asked this question fairly frequently, so here’s what I know (or I think I know) about it.

In general, a blowout happens when the crust sets before the inside has finished expanding. This can happen on the top, bottom, or side of the loaf. One or a combination of factors can be the culprit:

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