Recipe(tried): Pao do Minho (Rough Country Bread of the Minho Province).

There is so much about Portuguese bread in these Boards. Here is a recipe from one of my Portuguese cookbooks.

A recipe for P O DO MINHO (Rough Country Bread of the Minho Province).

It is in THE FOOD OF PORTUGAL by Jean Anderson, 1986, Hearst Books, New York. It describes the bread as "This chewy white loaf is the standard country bread of northern Portugal. It is slightly rougher than the simple P O.

P O DO MINHO (Rough Country Bread of the Minho Province)
Makes two 7 inch round loaves

3 packages active dry yeast
5 cups warm water
5 cups sifted unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup unsifted gluten flour (find in health food stores)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp cornmeal

First make a sponge: In a large warm bowl combine the yeast, 3/4 cup of the water, and 1 cup of the unbleached flour; beat hard to blend. Cover, set in a warm draftfree spot, and let rise until spongy and doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.

Stir the sponge down and mix in the glutten flour, salt and remaining 1 1/4 cups of water. Now add enough of the remaining unbleached flour, 1 cup at a time,to make a stiff but manageable dough. Turn onto a lightly floured board (use only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking)and knead hard for 5 minutes.. Shape the dough into a ball, place in a warm, greased bowl, and turn the dough in the bowl so that it is greased all over. Cover with a clean, dry cloth, set in a war,m, draft free spot, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 hours. Punch the dough down, turn onto a lightly floured board, and knead hard for 5 minutes.

Once again, shape the dough into a ball, place in a clean, warm, greased bowl, turn the dough in the bowl so that it is greased all over, cover with a cloth, and set in a warm, draft free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Again punch the dough down, turn out onto a lightly floured board, adding only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking. Knead hard for 5 minutes, then divide the dough in half. Knrad each 1/2 hard for 2-3 minutes, then shape into a ball. Grease two 8 inch layer cake pans well, and sprinkle 1 tsp of cornmeal over the bottom of each. Place the balls of dough in the two pans and dust the tops lightly with flour. Cover with a cloth, set in a warm, draft free spot, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, improvise the brick and steam oven as directed on page 223 of the book, setting the thermostat at very hot (500F) and preheating the oven a full 20 minutes. As soon as the loaves are risen, drizzle cold water directly onto the hot bricks, producing a head of steam. Arrange the loaves on the center rack at once so that they do not touch each other or the oven walls. Close the oven door securely and bake the bread 15 minutes, drizzling the bricks with cold water every 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to hot (400F) and bake the loaves 15 minutes longer, again drizzling the bricks with cold water every 5 minutes. As soon as the loaves are richly brownrd, firm and hollow sounding when thumped, remove from the oven and transfer at once to wire racks to cool.