Pilgrim's Bread

From the Better Homes And Gardens Homemade Bread Cookbook, 1974. A nice sandwich bread, nothing I would call spectacular, but OK.

You Will Need:

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup cooking oil
4 1/2 teaspoons granulated dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rye flour
4-5 cups white flour (I substituted bread flour)

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, sugar, oil and salt. Pour boiling water over and let stand 30 minutes. Meanwhile, soften the yeast in the warm water and set aside.

Add the yeast to the cornmeal mixture and add the wheat and rye flours. Add the bread flour slowly until you have a workable, not sticky dough. Knead until smooth and elastic-took about five minutes by hand.

Place in an oiled bowl, turn and cover. Let rise until doubled-about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter two baking pans and divide the dough in two. Let rest ten minutes before fitting into pans. Cover and let rise until almost doubled-about 40 minutes. Bake 25 minutes and then cover top loosely with foil for remaining 10-15 minutes. I baked thesae to an internal temperature of 200 degrees F.

Cool on racks.