Corn Grits Bread

I had never bought corn grits before. I looked at the packet in my hand helplessly, wondering what I would do with it and how I was going to justify this "buy"! A couple of hours later I was thrilled with my impulsive shopping.

Ingredients:

Corn Grits...............................1 n 1/2 cups (cooked grits)

Maida....................................3 cups (all purpose flour/refined flour)

Fresh yeast............................2 n 1/4 tsps

Water or milk.......................3/4 cup (warm)

Sugar....................................2 tsps

Baking powder.....................1/2 tsp

A pinch of salt

Oil........................................1/2 cup

Boil a cup of grits. It should yield the required amount or a bit more. Don't worry about the extra. It can be put to good use as I found out! Do this before as the grits need to cool. This is what the cooked product looks like:

While the grits are cooling, warm the milk and add it to the yeast and sugar. stir it and leave to froth and rise.

Measure out the flour, oil and grits. Add the baking powder and salt to the flour. When the yeast is frothy and has risen, add it along with the oil and grits to the flour. Knead. If it is too sticky add some flour, a tablespoon at a time. Don't add too much. The dough has to be soft.

Cover the dough and leave it to rise. When it doubles in volume, divide into two portions and put them into greased bread tins. Allow to stand for another 10-12 minutes, to rise again.

Bake at mark 7 for about 20-25 minutes. Check if it's done by inserting a toothpick or satay stick or whatever you have handy. It should come out without sticky dough.

You can serve it warm with butter melting into it. This bread goes well with a chicken stew and also at breakfast with eggs sunny-side up!

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