One of the breads I make on a regular basis at work is a jalapeño sandwich bread. It gets used for mainly for canapés and toast points for barbecue. I love making it because of the wonderful spicy aroma and the pleasant heat it has. Of course the recipe that I make is industrial sized, using three pounds of peppers making it not particularly good for home use.

However, I was recently reminded of this HI-Rise Corn Bread from one of my favorite baking books, Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking. The recipe doesn't originally have jalapeños, just fresh corn and stone ground corn meal. I usually add the peppers, though, if I make this recipe at home because the heat and the corn go so well together. Maggie's recipe is after the jump, but I definitely recommend getting her book if you're interested in baking as it's a really great read and very helpful. I always love the results from this bread, the sweet corn and heat just make the best sandwiches. Toast the slices to really bring out the aroma.

Preferment:
1.25 C/ 6.6oz bread flour
1.5 tsp/ .25oz instant yeast
.75C/ 6.6 oz lukewarm water
Just mix everything together very well and cover with plastic wrap. Let it ferment until it's very bubbly and risen, about two hours.

Dough:
2/3C / 5.6oz water
the preferment
2.5C/ 13.2oz bread flour
1C/ 5oz corn meal (preferably stoneground)
.25C/ 4oz corn kernels (or the kernels from one ear)
2 large eggs
2 TB/ 1.4 oz honey
1.5TB/ .7oz vegetable oil
1 TB/ .5oz salt
.25C/ 4oz jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped

You can mix everything by hand, stand mixer, or food processor. It's a straight dough method, meaning that all the ingredients get mixed together at the same time. Mix until you have a smooth, consistent dough; it will be very soft and sticky and the corn kernels will be crushed up.

Turn the dough out into a lightly greased container, cover with plastic wrap and allow to ferment until it's doubled in size (about 1.5 hours).

"Generously butter" two loaf pans. Divide the dough in half. Generously flour your work surface, roll each piece into a rectangle and fold the corners into the center. This helps develop the gluten. Then roll the dough out again to a 1/4in thick rectangle, and roll that up "like a carpet" so that the cylinder fits into the loaf pans. Preheat your oven to 350°F while the dough proofs in the loaf pans. When the dough is about 3/4 of the way to the top of the pan, they're ready to bake. Beat one egg and brush it on each of the loaves, and bake until well browned (about 50-60 minutes), making sure to rotate the pans half way through baking. Turn the bread out of the pans immediately, and allow to cool.