Instructions: Pour the water into a saucepan and sprinkle in the cornmeal. Stirring constantly, bring the water to a boil and remove it from the heat. Stir in the maple syrup. If youre using butter, add it now while the mixture is hot. Allow to cool a bit. Blend the yeast and salt with the whole wheat flour and stir it into the cornmeal mixture; then add the 2 tablespoons of oil, if youre using it. Add 4 cups of the all-purpose flour and mix until the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl.

Turn out onto a flour-sprinkled kneading surface and knead for 3 or 4 minutes. Add enough more flour to give the dough body, but not enough to make it stiff. Let the dough rest while you wash, clean out and grease the bowl. Knead the dough another 3 or 4 minutes, place it in the bowl, cover, and let rise until its doubled in bulk.*

*If youre planning to make fried bread for breakfast, put the dough to rise in a cool place and leave it overnight. It will be ready for you in the morning.

To cook the dough, heat a large pan with vegetable oil thats 2 or 3 inches deep until its reached 365F to 375F. Pull or cut off golf ball-sized pieces of dough (somewhere between 1 and 1 1/2 ounces each). Dont try to smooth them out - ragged is better. Drop them gently into the oil, leaving space for expansion. Flip them over when theyre golden on one side (sometimes theyre reluctant to stay turned over, but a couple of forks can usually persuade them by force). When you think theyre done, remove with a slotted spoon onto a paper towel. Tear one open just to make sure theyre cooked all the way through; sometimes theyre not and need another minute or so back in the pan. If your clientele can wait, accumulate a pile on a plate in a warm oven. Then serve them along with butter, maple syrup, and perhaps a sausage or two.

Yield: about 3 dozen

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