This Portuguese Cornbread Has a Tasty Secret!

You think you know Portuguese cornbread — dense, compact, and rock-hard the next day?
Yeah, me too. I grew up with it. I love it.
But this time, I decided to fix it.

In this video, I’m taking traditional Portuguese broa (cornbread) and transforming it into something completely new — light, airy, and layered with smoky chorizo. Instead of a heavy, dense loaf, this version has an open crumb, crispy crust, and even a spiral of chouriço running through the middle.

We’ll talk about why corn flour makes bread dense, how to use vital wheat gluten to build structure, and how an overnight fermentation adds flavor, elasticity, and depth. Then we’ll laminate the dough with slices of Portuguese chouriço — like a babka, but savory — to create layers that bake into a spiral of flavor.

Ingredients – Cornbread with Chorizo (Broa com Chouriço)

Dry Ingredients
• 300 g corn flour (fine)
• 200 g “00” flour
• 20 g vital wheat gluten
• 7 g instant yeast
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 5 g sugar (optional)

Wet Ingredients
• 360 ml warm water (around 40 °C)
• 20 ml olive oil

Filling
• 350 g chouriço (Portuguese chorizo), thinly sliced

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Chapters:
0:00-Intro
0:24-How to cook portuguese cornbread with chorizo – broa portuguesa
4:17-Tasting

This is Portuguese cornbread, but not like one you had before. Traditionally, it’s dense, compact, gets hard by the next day. I grew up with it. I love it, actually. But it could be better. What if I make it lighter, more open crumb, and maybe pack the smoky chiso? But the real test though, for this to work, when I cut into it, I want to see a spiral of chisso, not just random pieces. Can you even make cornbread lighter? That’s the question. So, the problem with traditional cornbread is the actual corn flour. There’s no gluten in it. That’s why it’s so dense. So, we’re going to cheat, but in a good way, I promise. White flour and vital wheat gluten. This is what will build our structure. 200 g of white flour, 20 g of vital wheat gluten. Yeah, you will need to buy this one separately. And 7 g of eastern yeast. I’ll mix that with 200 mm of warm water. And I will mix until I get a sticky dough. kind of rough looking, but this is building the backbone of the whole thing. I’ll let it sit for 30 to 45 minutes. There. See that? Bubbly, alive. This is what corn flour cannot do on its own. And now, and this is a real test. Can this gluten structure actually hold up when we add the corn flour? 300 g of corn flour, 1 tbsp of salt, some olive oil, and I’ll add the rest of the water. I will mix it at low speed until it’s all integrated. And then I’ll knead it for 6 to 8 minutes on medium high until it starts to feel elastic like it’s coming together. Developed that gluten. And look at it. The gluten is holding. Corn flour and wheat flour. They’re actually working together. Will still taste like corn, but it’s working. But here’s what I need though. This dough has to be strong enough to roll out thin. Really thin, let’s say, without tearing because that’s how I’ll get the layers. If it tears, this whole thing doesn’t work. Now for the rise. And you’ve got two options here. We have a quick version, 1 and a half to two hours at room temperature. A better version, and this is what I’m doing, I’ll put it into the fridge overnight, 12 to 24 hours. Cold fermentation. I mean, if we’re trying to make better cornbread, might as well go all the way, right? It rose slowly in the cold. You can smell it. It’s developed. The gluten feels even stronger now. But will it be elastic enough to roll out thin or did the cold make it too firm? Because that happens sometimes. I will roll out the dough as thin as I can without tearing. Careful here. If I go too hard, I’ll break the gluten. Not absolutely perfect, but very workable. The overnight weight paid off. This dough is stretching really well. Strong, elastic, and it smells tangy. You can actually smell the fermentation. Now, the chreso, 350 g, thin slices. I’m laying this out in a single layer across the entire dough. Edge to edge, full coverage. And honestly, you can go crazy here and really load it if you want. This is the whole point. Each slice sits flat. When I roll this up, each slice will become a layer. That’s the theory anyway. And I’ll start rolling from one end. And I’ll try and keep it as tight as possible, like a cinnamon roll, if you ever made that. And we can already see the spiral forming. Layers of dough, layers of chiso. When this bakes, the fat from the chisso should render between the layers, flavor them, and keeping them separate. I’ll cover it and I’ll let it to proof for 30 minutes. This will make it puff one more time. Question is, will those layers survive the oven or everything just collapse back into dense cornbread like always. Into the oven 220°, 450 fah, 30 to 40 minutes depending on the oven till the edges get crispy. This is where will happen. The fat from the chiso render will melt between the layers hopefully and you can smell it through the whole house. smoked corn bread. There it is. Golden crust, crispy edges, and you can see here a little bit of the chisso fat trying to escape. Smells incredible. And it held. It didn’t collapse. But we have to wait 30 minutes to let the crumb set properly. And with this smell in the air, this is the hardest part, the waiting. Is there actually a spiral in there? Oh, still steaming. And there you can actually count the layers. Rings of chisso running through the bread and the nice and soft texture. It’s not dense. It’s light layered. It actually transformed. M smokeoky. The corn flavor is still there. You can definitely taste it. But it’s soft. It’s open. And every single bite has chiso in it. And the flavor from that overnight proof. You can taste it. There’s more depth to it. Slightly tangy. That’s what time gives you, I guess. Everything actually worked. And this is what cornbread should be. You know, traditional flavor, better texture, way more delicious. So, cornbread doesn’t have to be dense. It can be light, airy, layered with flavor. And if you give it time, even better. This is comfort food done